We know the twirling community loves pageants, and even more so when the pageant competitors are baton twirlers! We have been lucky the past year to have our very own Caroline Carothers as the 2016 Miss Texas. Caroline has represented our State and our sport with both class and talent. Sadly, in only a month, Caroline's reign will come to an end, but don't worry! We will have FOUR baton twirlers competing for the title of 2017 Miss Texas. Can baton twirlers see a Miss Texas repeat?
In order to make sure our twirlers get the proper level of support from the twirling community, each week leading up to the Miss Texas pageant (June 25th to July 1st) we will be doing an interview with each of the four baton twirlers that will be competing. We want to come together and unite to celebrate and support these four young women as they represent our community and show Texas what twirlers can do!
Our first Miss Texas twirling representative is the 2017 Miss Twin Rivers, Kimberly Ferguson!
Kimberly is 23 years old and hails from Carthage, TX. You may have seen Kimberly performing around east Texas as she was the head twirler at her high school and a member of the well known Stephen F Austin State University Twirl-O-Jacks in college! Kimberly is coached by Caylee Brandy Moore and Candice Curbow. Kimberly graduated from SFA with a BA in Mass Communications and is currently the Recruiting Coordinator and Academic Adviser/Twirling Coach at Panola College.
Now, lets learn a little more about Kimberly, baton twirling, and her journey to the Miss Texas stage!
PEOPLE'S CHOICE VOTING IS OPEN! Help support our Texas Twirlers in their mission to get baton twirling to the finals! Top 2 highest "votes" get a guaranteed spot to perform in the finals. Check out the People's Choice voting site to donate. You can vote up until June 29th!!!
Miss Texas Platform: Everyone's Got a Story - magazineliteracy.org
Life Motto: "There are far better things ahead than anything we leave behind."-C.S. Lewis
Favorite Twirling Experience: Twirling in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade and the London New Year's Day Parade. There is absolutely nothing like being in a huge city during the holidays and performing with your best friends in that environment!
What made her pursue competing in the MAO?
I have always been a huge fan of the Miss America Organization, and it's so funny to think that after watching the pageant every year, I'd practice my introduction and walk in the mirror! I turned down a really great job offer last fall for several reasons; one of which was a feeling that God was telling me to bloom where I'm planted. I wasn't thrilled with the decision, but I felt in my heart that I was doing the right thing. Right before I turned down the job, a local MAO pageant started liking my photos on Instagram. I thought since I was no longer a college student, I probably wasn't eligible. When I actually looked up the rules, I realized I could win scholarship money for grad school by competing, and also fulfill a lifelong dream of mine. Plus, I never thought I'd get to solo again, so I was thrilled for the chance to twirl! The day after I decided not to move, I registered for Miss Texarkana Twin Rivers. I believe that God had a reason that I needed to stay at my current job a little while longer, and he placed me with the Miss TTR board on purpose!
How would you say Baton Twirling has helped you in your MAO journey?
Baton twirling was my first love. It taught me how to set a goal and pursue it relentlessly. At 14 years old, you don't always want to practice every night, but I would always tell myself that an hour watching TV isn't going to help me win a gold medal, and I'd make my way out to the driveway. I think of twirling as Chapter 1 - after I graduated college, I continued to teach but it wasn't the same anymore. MAO is Chapter 2 - taking the skills I learned as a twirler and performer, and adding to that skill set to juggle and achieve even more than I thought I could. I love pageantry as well, but I don't think I'll ever fall in love with something the way I did with twirling. I shaped me through my most formidable years!
Why did you select your platform? What made it special to you?
I love to read, and I majored in journalism hoping to write one day for a nationally syndicated magazine. My mom is also a library director, so literacy is very close to my heart! Texas has one of the worst literacy rates in the nation, so I felt that partnering with magazineliteracy.org could help me see an impact directly on my community. The organization collects gently used magazines from all over the nation and redistributes them to foster homes, missions, food banks, homeless shelters, etc. where people might rather flip through a magazine than a Jane Austin novel!
What has been the most rewarding moment as Miss Twin Rivers?
On Miss America Serves Day, a group of titleholders went to visit Water Springs Ranch, which is a foster home in Texarkana. We visited with some very special young women over cupcakes and mani/pedis. One little girl and I really hit it off and we keep in touch by email. She's 12, which is the age when I started twirling, and I told her that if someone told me I'd be competing for Miss Texas in about 10 years, I never would've believed it. It just goes to show that you have no idea what the future could hold, but you should always be hopeful that good things are coming, and take advantage of opportunities as they come your way! I like to think that even if I didn't achieve anything else in my year of service, I brightened her day that day and maybe inspired her to pursue a dream that seems impossible.
What has been the hardest part about competing in the MAO pageants?
Juggling a full time job with appearances and Miss Texas prep has definitely been a challenge. I have to squeeze in a work out before work, talent practice after work, and then sometimes a second work out in the evenings. At one time, I had four students doing private lessons as well, and Monday - Thursday I'd get home at about 9 p.m. Some days it's difficult to give 110% to everything, especially since I don't want my employers to ever feel like I'm not doing my job well because of my title. I travel for work, and I live about an hour and a half from Texarkana, so all of those appearances mean a lot of travel for me. That can also make it really hard to plan meals and stay on top of my fitness goals! I'm definitely a very tidy person, but I just keep telling myself that the judges will only see what's on stage - they won't know if my room is clean, so that may have to wait until July 2nd!
What advice would you have for twirlers thinking about going the pageant route?
Just do it - don't wait! I think a lot of people surprise themselves with how much they can achieve when you actually give it a shot, and you'll make so many friends! But be sure you're doing it for you, because ultimately the work will fall on you. Your mom or director can't practice talent for you or do those crunches, so make sure you know why you're signing up! It’s been said that one of the most important things you can do to prepare for a pageant is to know your “why” – the reason you want to pursue that title – and to remind yourself of that frequently.
Any fun or interesting stories or sidenotes you would like to add?
I recently downloaded the twitter app after deleting it for a while, and I saw where I had tweeted in May 2015 "I regret not doing pageants, like mmmm, once daily." Now two years later, I'm competing for Miss Texas! I can’t wait to be able to look back in May 2019 and see where life has taken me.
Thank you so much to Kimberly for taking time to answer our questions. We wish you the best of luck as you compete on the Miss Texas stage, and just know, all the Texas twirling community is behind you! Show them what you got Miss Twin Rivers!
We hope you have enjoyed this blog post. We are always looking for great new stories about Texas twirlers. Do you have an idea or some information we could use to help highlight our sport? Contact us at texastwirlcontact@gmail.com and we would love to hear more about it.
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