Upcoming Events in 2007

Here is what January, 2007 will bring:
Final fittings will be done on my Miss America wardrobe, finessing my interview, and getting prepared for Miss America.
Jan 2-5: Eastern Montana
Jan. 4: I will be in Wibaux, Montana to tape the Touchstone Electric Co-Operatives' television and radio PSAs with students at Wibaux school.
I will present my platform message "Music Makes the Difference and Right Choices/Right Now" for the elementary students in morning and for the middle/high School students in the afternoon.
Jan 7: I will sing in the Bridal Show and model gowns from David's Bridal.
Jan. 12: I will visit and entertain the residents at the Highgate Sr. Living in Billings
Jan. 14: Please join us at the Trunk Show and Send Off Party with the Big Band performing at Shrine Auditorium on Broadwater in Billings beginning at 4:00 PM
Jan 17: Visiting the students at Elder Grove School
Jan 17 or 18: Laurel JC’s and Chamber Distinguished Service Award Banquet
January 19: Off to Las Vegas to represent Montana at Miss America!
January 20: Fashion Show Mall and Planet Hollywood events
Check out CMT for special programming this week regarding the Miss America Pageant!
January 22: Miss America contestants will ride the Gondola at the Venetian; rehearsals with Kellye Cash, a former Miss America
January 24: Private 12-minute interview with the judges
January 25: Miss America Preliminary night #1 - I will perform my talent "Il Bacio"
January 26: Miss America Preliminary night #2 - I will compete in on-stage interview and attend a gala with my fellow Miss America sisters of the Alpha Group
January 27: Miss America Preliminary night #3 - Evening gown and swimsuit competition
January 28: Miss America/CMN Black Tie Gala
January 29: Rehearsals with Mario Lopez, emcee for the final night of competition. Top Ten announced and production to be seen on CMT
January 30: Return to Montana

February: Dancing with the Stars, school visits and the St. John's Annual Dinner Show, Mardi Gras events in Great Falls, and more events being added.

Inspiring the Montana Stockgrowers & CattleWomen at their annual Convention

The Montana Stockgrowers Association and Montana CattleWomen's Convention was held in Billings at the Holiday Inn Grand. This is one of Montana's largest conventions. For the past two years, Miss Montana has had the opportunity to visit an event of the convention and to speak. I was asked to speak at the Inspirational Breakfast preceding the final session.
Earlier in the week my cousin Shawn was out doing chores on the ranch while listening to the radio. At first he thought he misheard the commercial but when he confirmed it during a second airing, he found much humor in it. Apparently the promotions for the Montana Stockgrowers Convention broadcasted that Miss Montana, Carrie Hageman, would be speaking at the Inspirational Breakfast. The reason this is funny to our family is because I have been called Carrie all my life. She’s my older sister and even our mother sometimes could not keep our names straight.
When I spoke at the breakfast on Friday morning, I told them that they were fortunate to have this Hageman instead of Carrie because they would have gotten a speech on finances and tax laws (she’s a CPA in Seattle). I spoke about the love of the land being a huge inspiration in their business and sang “Cowboy’s Sweetheart” for them (I thought it only appropriate). I mentioned my family’s ranch in Rapelje and many people knew my relatives. It gets to be a small world in this business!

Grizzly Basketball

In the evening of December 13, I sang the National Anthem at the University of Montana Men's Basketball game played at the Adams Center. They played Montana Tech but many of the students were either studying for their semester finals or heading home for the holidays.
My thanks to the University and Ms. Anderson for arranging passes for my companion and me.
I flew to Billings on Thursday after a busy week of travel and presentations.

Stevensville

On Wednesday, I was at Stevensville School where I encountered my most challenging situation on my travels so far…and it was not the students.
I had never addressed my platform presentation to more than just one set of bleachers in a gym. I have spoken in auditoriums and from stages at conventions, but not in a gymnasium full of students on both sides, and then some! I knew if I let the amount of students intimidate me, I would not deliver my message as effectively and they would not realize the magnitude of the problem I was addressing. Instead I became more confident and commanding in my demeanor.
With a crowd of that number (and in the high school age range), the trick to maintaining control is to never let them mentally break you. I felt very good about this presentation at Stevensville.
The elementary students were less in number and they were very attentive. For the first time in my presentation, I had to deny a request to sing another song because my voice was not holding up due to my recovering illness. For me this is heartbreaking because sharing music is the best way to advocate music.

Victor and Corvallis School Visits

The next morning I was escorted to the Victor school by one of my mom’s dear friends whom I stayed with during my visit in the area. I presented to the high school immediately followed by the grade school. Principal Johnston was very kind and seemed to get a lot more attention than I think he wanted as he walked us through the school: he received numerous of hugs by the high school boys. I’m not exactly sure why.
In the afternoon I drove to Corvallis and presented twice for their primary school. Before I spoke to the third and fourth graders, they had a special guest who was a volunteer in their adopted grandparents program. He had special gifts for three of the students. He had made wooden flutes for the winners of an essay contest and for the most improvement in the student reading group. The overwhelming response by the students indicated the positive impact this program has made in their school.

Stevensville FFA

My voice started to reappear on Monday when I flew back to Montana, but I did not fly home. The next few days were spent in western Montana for many engagements.
I was picked up at the airport in Missoula by officers of the Stevensville FFA (Future Farmers of America) and one of their advisors. We drove to Stevensville and I spoke and sang at their Christmas Banquet. The biggest compliment I received was, “I’ve never listened to opera but you’ve made me want to hear more.” A comment like this is how I know I am doing my job as an advocate of music.
The event was their annual appreciation dinner for their families and supporters from the community. There were over 200 attendees and the FFA members served a home cooked meal. The program consisted of awards of recognition and an overview of their activities during their year. I was the speaker and I spoke about the quality of leadership in our organizations (the FFA and the Miss Montana Scholarship Program).
The people of Stevensville are incredibly supportive of their chapter as apparent by the attendance and their generous donations and biddings for the silent auction. They are also very gracious to visitors and I had a wonderful time meeting and conversing with many of them.

Billings Sr., Ladies Luncheon, & San Jose

As luck would have it, the week after the Chanter’s Concert, I came down with a sore throat and head cold. In spite of my condition, I was still able to sing for some of the choirs at Senior High on Wednesday, December 6. Mr. Corey was my choir director when I was at Senior and this is the second time that I have visited his classes to sing and talk about my musical journey. My long time piano partner, Sandi, was able to join me and we performed a lot of opera arias and a little jazz. My philosophy about music in high school and the prospect to continue it beyond graduation is to expose, educate, and empower the students about all genres of music so they can better understand and enjoy the diversity of the music industry. For this reason, and also because it’s great performance practice, I love to share my classical and operatic singing with students of this age group.
I also performed this week for the LDS Ladies Christmas Luncheon.
My cold grew worse as I prepared to travel to California to work with my voice teacher before Miss America. By the time I arrived for my first lesson, I had no voice. Fortunately, my performances were recorded by Mr. Corey at Senior high a few days before and I had already copied them to the computer. Since I have the best dad in the world, he emailed the song files I needed and they were burned on a disc for me to take for my voice lesson.
Even without a voice, it was productive and worthwhile. I am so appreciative to Ray and the Yang family for “nursing” me while I was miserable with my illness. They are all very generous and caring, and I thank them very much.

Aspen Meadows

On the afternoon of December 4, I visited the Aspen Meadows retirement community and sang a few songs and Christmas carols. Again, the connections in a hometown are endless and one of the residents could name my great uncle who had lived in Rapelje, "Lester Hageman, yeah he had Hereford cows. I remember that."
Whenever I visit homes like these, I just wish that people who have friends or relatives living there would take the time to visit them because contact outside their small community is so valuable. A staff member was discussing with me the importance of bringing people in for music or entertainment, and how difficult it has become nowadays.

Tenors, Touchdowns, & Travel! University of Montana Grizzly Football Play-offs

A great advantage to Montana’s small towns and regional airlines is the friendliness and very individual service. While in the airport, I met Montana's son and newest, most famous tenor, Chris Benegochea, who is from the Lambert/Culbertson area but is currently with the San Jose Opera Company.
I caught a ride with the Big Sky pilots from the hotel to the airport for the 6am flight out of Sidney. One way to guarantee making the flight is to ride with the pilots :) I was flying across the state to Missoula that morning and we were delayed because of our ever variable Montana winter weather. I made it just in time to rehearse quickly on the field and experience the huge delay between the microphone and the stadium speakers – an enormous challenge for a singer. The game was the first round of I-AA playoffs for the UM Grizzly football team and had a record attendance (19,900) for their victorious game in Washington-Grizzle Stadium on the University of Montana campus. I spent the rest of the day in Missoula and tried to catch up with a little paperwork. My thanks to the Hoiland Family for hosting me on such a busy weekend.
Sunday was longer than originally planned. My parents were in Seattle with my sister for Thanksgiving and were driving all the way through on Sunday. They planned to pick me up in Missoula at 3pm on their way through to Billings. However, a huge storm had moved in to the northwest and caused numerous road conditions. On the first mountain pass outside of Seattle, chains were required for all cars without 4-wheel or all-wheel drive. My parents said they didn’t go over 20 mph until they reached Coeur D’Alene around 7:30pm. Six hours after the initial estimated time, my parents picked me up in Missoula at 9:30 and we drove home. We arrived at 3am to warm beds.
I figured that everyday this week I was in at least two different towns. Luckily two of those nights I spent at home so my poor dog could sleep inside since she was left at home. She kept a close eye on us the following week to make sure we were not going to leave her again.

Sidney Parade of Lights and Santa Claus

Friday morning I was on the Big Sky Airlines flight to Sidney where I took part in many of their holiday festivities. I sang at two of the retirement communities, The Lodge and the Crestwood, where I was met with grateful residents who willingly joined in with a few Christmas carols.
I met with Bill at the Sidney Herald for a quick interview in the afternoon and then checked into the Lone Tree Motor Inn which graciously sponsored my lodging for the night.
A little later I was at the Bridal Palace signing autographs and watching the sidewalks fill with people as businesses set up their tables with hot cocoa and other goodies. The sun and the temperature were down when I sang on their outdoor stage. They assured me that more people were listening even though the hay bales in front of the stage were half full; everyone was huddled indoors were it was warm! I enjoyed singing for the event but my hands and toes were quite numb by the time I was done.
After warming up in the car and waiting for everyone to get organized, I rode in an open air convertible for the Parade of Lights. I teased the driver that my smile was literally frozen on.
At the end of the route, we waited for Santa – the last entry of the parade – and met him at the Valley View IGA. He passed out bags of candy to the children and for the first time, I got to be Santa’s Helper!
What an eventful day.

The beginning of Thanksgiving Week

Thanksgiving week was one of MANY miles. I began with a trip to northeastern Montana on Monday. Cami (a Miss Montana Board member) and I drove to Glendive for an important Miss Montana Board meeting where they finalized their decision to hold the pageant in Glendive June 14-15-16 and elected new board members. During the meeting, I gave a sneak peak into my wardrobe for Miss America and modeled the many beautiful dresses for the attendees. Once we finished, it was another two hours to the Hoff ranch where Cami and I stayed the night.
On Tuesday, Avice, Cami, and I ventured out to some of the businesses in the area that sponsor scholarships for the Miss Montana pageant. We presented certificates of appreciation to and took pictures with the Sheridan Electric Co-operative, the Daniels-Sheridan Federal Credit Union in Medicine Lake, Montana State Bank, the Red Hanger, and Jacobson Jewelry in Plentywood. While in Plentywood, I met with Mari at the Red Hanger and together we chose jewelry for my Miss America wardrobe. Mari is such a pleasure to work with and I am very thankful for her generosity in sponsoring this necessary element for Miss America. After a quick bite to eat, we were back on the road and ultimately back to Billings by 8:30pm.
Wednesday was personal travel as I met my aunt and uncle to drive to Bozeman and spend Thanksgiving with family. A favorite family game is Pinochle and my luck was fairly good those two days :) We returned home on Thursday amid slight snowy conditions, but thankfully the interstate was dry.

Arrowhead School

The first Billings School where I made a presention was Arrowhead elementary on December 4. The students were very well behaved and I was surprised at how many teachers I knew.
I think the students were warming me up for my pageant interview because some of their questions were about serious political scenarios rather than the normal student questions. I teased one boy about being a pageant judge in disguise.

Shrine Chanters Christmas Concert

The annual Al Bedoo Shrine Chanters Christmas Concert was held December 3 and I had the honor of being a featured soloist along with Billings Opera Star, Amy Logan. In high school, I sang with the ladies ensemble that performs on this concert, the Akzents, but this year I sang a different role – how fun!
Also playing in the concert (and accompanying the group and soloists) was the Billings Community Orchestra. It is amazing how a group of volunteers offering their musical skills can present an entire concert with a hugely varied program for the purpose of raising funds for the Shriners Children’s Hospital. This concert is the main fundraising event fo the Shrine Chanters in their efforts to support their Children's Hospital. One of the most moving events on the program was the introduction of a few children who have been helped by the Shrine Hospital - a great reminder of why we performers participate.
With selections from opera, musicals, contemporary Christian, and of course, Christmas favorites, there was truly something on the program for everyone.
The concert was held at the wonderful Alberta Bair Theater.

Breakfast with the Optimists

The Optimist Club is a great organization whose motto is "Bringing out the best in kids." When the Billings Breakfast Optimists asked me to sing and speak at their meeting, I knew there would be many crossovers in their objectives and those of the IMAGE Productions, Inc. and the Miss Montana Scholarship Program.
My mom accompanied me to the 6:30am meeting – we were thankful for breakfast (which was delicious French toast at the McCormick’s Café). I addressed the need to reach out to youth and how I am using my platform and my talents to accomplish that during my year as Miss Montana. I spoke, sang, and had a fine time – even for that early hour of the day.

Houston via Sheridan, WY

I am very thankful for so many opportunities that my title has provided me. One in particular is the chance to work with the pageant industry’s leading interview coach, Don Baker. Only by the efforts of two Miss Montana board members, Cami and Avice, did this become a reality. Cami worked with Don Baker for months before we secured and arranged a session in Houston, Texas on November 15.
The flights getting there were difficult including being bumped, missing a connection and long delays… but the opportunity was worth the trouble. While in Texas, I also worked with a Nicole to sharpen my walking skills in that area. Of course my family teased me saying that now I have people to teach me how to walk and talk.
On our way to Houston, we had the opportunity to meet with Miss Wyoming and board members, Carole Perkins and Kelly Miller-Smart.
I would like to thank Cami for the many hours and contributions she personally gave for this trip and to Avice for her assistance during the trip.

Lockwood School Visit

The Lockwood school arranged for me to visit their school on Wednesday, November 8. As a large Billings area school, they divided their many classes into three assemblies. This was the first school that I presented to a narrow age/grade range of students and learned how different my presentations can be with the same material but a slightly different audience. I am enjoying this challenge and development.
I also visited two of the music classes where I sang a few songs and talked about my involvement in music while in school. They were preparing for their holiday program and we all sang a few songs together.
During lunch, many of the students were very excited about my visit and I did not have enough time to fill all of their autograph requests. However, I enjoyed the nostalgia of my peanut butter and jelly sandwich :)

Rocky Balboa Premiere

With Miss MN, Nicole Swason, in the limo to the premiere. On December 19, twenty Miss America state finalists had the honor and privilege to attend the Rocky Balboa movie premiere in Las Vegas.
On January 19, we will gather again at the Aladdin as the 52 finalists and on January 29, one will be named Miss America 2007.
For individual videos and photos, check out the CMT and Miss America websites!

Early in December, an email from the Miss America Organization was sent to all the state Executive Directors announcing movie premiere of “Rocky Balboa” at the Aladdin Casino in Las Vegas. They planned to have Miss America and 20 contestants of the 2007 pageant in attendance to promote the January pageant events. The first 20 to respond to the email would be flown to Las Vegas, accommodated at the Aladdin Hotel, and attend the activities of the movie premiere with Sylvester Stallone himself! I was lucky enough to make the list and marked December 19th and 20th off my calendar. However, being from Montana, I spent more time in transit than at the events, but who can miss an opportunity like this?
We were driven to and from the airport in our own limousines, and walked the red carpet to the movie theater (also from limousines!). Mr. Stallone introduced the movie and there were many VIPs in attendance including former boxing champions and stars like David Hasselhoff, Robin Leach, Carrot Top, and Antonio Tarver who plays the other boxer in the movie.
The Aladdin hosted the before and after galas which we attended.
For a girl who has never been to Vegas, this was quite an introduction. I can’t believe I will return in 30 days!

Happy Holidays!

Happy holidays from Miss Montana 2006

and the

Miss Montana Scholarship Program Board of Directors!