Hello Everybody!

My name is Maria Victoria Howell-Arza, and I am and have been a contestant in Miss Illinois Pre-teen. For this first post, I'm going to tell the story about how I got involved in National American Miss.

I had always wanted to do a pageant when I was younger, but my parents had always said no. They thought that pageants focused on outer beauty, instead of the most important, inner beauty.

Then, when I was 8, we got a letter in the mail that I had been recommended for some pageant, and I looked it up online and did research all by myself, but I still didn't convince my parents.

Then, last June, I had gotten the same letter again. (We had gone to some auditions for talent agents, and some wanted me, but the cost was too much.) And since I had done some auditions, I read my mom the letter and begged and pleaded for her to let me do it. So my mom told me she would go to the website and go through every inch of it with a fine-toothed comb, and if we had to pay a penny, it was an automatic NO. So she went through the website, read the mission statement, and saw that you could get sponsors. So my mom let me register for an open call, and we made a deal that I had to get sponsors for competition fees, and they would pay for everything else. If I couldn't get enough sponsors, the deal was off.

I went to my open call in mid-June, and when we saw everything the pageant had to offer, my parents and I got really excited and fell in love with the whole idea. The whole ride home, we were making lists of possible sponsors and other people to go talk to like family, friends, and neighbors. Even though I hadn't been accepted yet, I was getting ready. Within an hour of just information, I had grown that much in confidence.

I was very very anxiously awaiting my call, and within 3 business days, I got a call saying I had been accepted and that I should start looking for sponsors. I was so excited, I jumped up and down and screamed and started calling everyone in my family to see if they would sponsor me.

On my first day of what I like to call, 'sponsor shopping' (of course my favorite kind of shopping), I had talked to 13 businesses, and had only gotten 1 sponsorship of $50. But that was not going to stop me. The next night, I walked up and down one side of my subdivision for 2 hours, and in just one of those trips, I had a total of $180. Thank you Edgebrook Heights by the way. Then I went out for more, and all I got was about 10 'I'll think about it's, and 5 'Sorry. You're awfully cute, but we're just not interested's. But the rest of my sponsors I got because everyone thought I handled myself so well. Another asset from this organization. Pretty soon, I had my whole sponsor fee and 4 optional contests covered, including Talent, Actress, Spokesmodel, and Casual Wear Modeling.

I came out of Pheasant Run Resort in St. Charles, Illinois (where the pageant is held) with more friends, people skills, interview skills, public speaking skills, a whole lot of confidence, Top 30 overall, and 2nd runner up in talent. Thank you to my sponsors, who were B&B Automotive, Smith Engineering Company, The Trend Cellar, Northwestern Mutual Financial Network, Plum Garden, Lakeland Animal Hospital, Dunkin Donuts/Baskin Robbins, Excalibur Technology, and Prestress Engineering Corporation. I couldn't have done it without you.

But my story is not over yet. Early last December, I received a letter from NAMiss saying if I went again next year (I was already planning on it), I could get a discount. So I went out and got sponsors, and payed my whole sponsor fee with $110 off and a free hotel night on pageant weekend. (Which I've already booked by the way) And now I continue to practice, work hard, and prepare for next years pageant.

My sponsors for this year thus far are Victoria Hair Salon, Bertram P. Irslinger & Associates, Spengel Financial, Lazalde Agency, Dental Center of Logan Square, Dobbe Marketing, and Paxem.

I will keep posting things that have to do with my journey to the crown, and other things as well.

Bye!