Public Speaking - Feb 12, 2017

Public speaking.   Two words that cause more butterflies than almost anything I know. Standing up in front of an audience, a panel of judges and your fellow 4-H members, to share a topic you are passionate about is unthinkable for most. For the young 4-H members I had the pleasure of judging, not a hint of nervousness was shown.

I judged intermediate level, young ladies and gentlemen between the ages 12 and 14 and with each speaker came a different topic. It was a true reflection on who that person was, how their speech related to them and what the plan was for the future. I must say that the future is bright for every single member who spoke that day not matter what age or level.  As a judge we are not supposed to talk to the members between breaks and presentation so as I watched from my chair it was heartwarming to see everyone eating, relaxing and talking together. Katie and I felt like we were both welcomed into a huge family. The day flew by and by the end, every parent in that room was glowing with pride as their child stood in front and received their award. 

Now, Katie and I did not get the chance to partake in 4-H, but we have seen many of these young adult before and even in the short time we have known them we have noticed a huge change in confidence and self presentation all to the help of 4-H. It is a wonderful organization no matter which club you join and a huge part of shaping growth and I can easily say I learn something new every time I watch public speaking. 

Thank you to the Rocky view Areas 4-H District for inviting us, it is a honor and a pleasure to attend your events! 

Emily Marston

2016 Miss Rodeo Airdrie

Feb 5, 2017 - Airdrie 4-H Beef and Sheep Public Speaking

Airdrie 4-H Beef and Sheep Public Speaking

These kids are the future of agriculture. The speeches the were prepared and presented today were outstanding from ages 5 to 17 years of age. It takes a lot of courage to stand up in front of a panel of judges, fellow 4-H members, and parents. This was a great experience for Emily and I to take part in the judging portion of public speaking. Now I have judged figure skating competitions before but I have not done one for public speaking before. I don't care what anyone says, but judging public speaking was one of the hardest things for me to do, considering all the 4-H’s did such a great job with everything from there research to their performance.

Thank you for the opportunity of being apart of the judging process, being on the other side of the public speaking portion was definitely interesting and very educational. I will take what I have learned from this experience and use it to other public speaking opportunities I will have in my future.

Thank you for allowing us to learn about the 4-H’s and be apart of the judging experience.

Yours Truly,

Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess 2016

Katie Hlushak

Feb 4, 2017 - Airdrie Rotary Funny Money Casino

Airdrie Rotary Funny Money Casino

A big thank you to the Airdrie Rotary for putting on a great funny Money Casino for a great cause. The night was filled with guests from various businesses and organizations that were given a funny money voucher which they could exchange at any casino party table for chips. They could play at their favorite table or move from table to table throughout the evening. If the guests do not know how to play the game, the friendly dealers were happy to explain the rules and made the experience fun. 

At the end of the evening guests turn in their chips for the funny money and were able to purchase a live auction item with their funny money that they won for the night. I had the opportunity to take the microphone and introduce Emily and I, and explain what was in our live auction item and then show it off to all the bidders. 

I was so happy to see so familiar faces in the room from the City of Airdrie. Thank you to those who came out to support by making a difference in the Airdrie community! I would like to send out a special thanks to Bev Chinnery, President of Airdrie Rotary, for her continuous support as a sponsor to royalty, but as well as taking care of us at special events like this one in particular. So thank you for the opportunity for Emily and I to give a helping hand.

Yours Truly,

Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess 2016

Katie Hlushak

February 2 & 3 2017 - Groudhog's Day & AAAS

Thursday February 2^nd , a day well known as Groundhogs Day!!

For as long as we can remember Airdrie/Balzac have celebrated groundhogs day with Balzac Billy at the Blue Grass Garden Center. This year Katie and I were lucky to join in and take part with the eventful morning! 

The classic pancake breakfast, a wooden pirate ship and of course, the big reveal that we will have 6 more weeks of winter!  Which, we of course are happy about for who doesn’t love winter time?  It’s what makes us Canadian! Personally we had never been to the event before but we both agree we are putting it on the schedule for the next year and year after that............ 

It was great to meet so many new people from Airdrie, Edmonton and Calgary who all par-took in the annual Groundhogs day event! 

Friday February 3 -  is what we consider a full filled day in Royalty form.

It started off with a 7am radio interview on Air106.1 with the delightful Joel Lamoureux, who kept us on our toes. 

He reminded us about the fun the 2016 pageant was back in June last year, with our own mini version on air impromptu questions.  This was in celebration of our own pageant applications being released!

After leaving the station, we were on our way up to Edmonton for the Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies Conference. Now we had heard about this from our director Leanne but once you get there, words cannot compare to what it is really like. 

The hotel is filled with performers such as singers, magicians, acapella groups, fire twirlers and clowns that provide entertainment during rodeos and fairs. 

Booths are lined up showing the newest ideas in energy renewal, arena footing, home cooking, financial groups, youth programs, anything to do with agriculture and it was there.   

We spent hours talking and getting to know the amazing people behind all the companies that help keep Alberta Agriculture programs strong. However, the best part was the people we got to spend the day with.   

Throughout our day we spoke to people from all across Alberta who are part of their community Ag Society, everyone was so excited to be there! The best part of the day was taking part in the opening ceremonies where we got to escort some of the major sponsor to the stage alongside Miss Rodeo Canada Ali Mullen.  We were seated with Mr. Mike Labelle, our fantastic M.C for the night, (thank you Mike, you are such a sweetheart). 

 

After our wonderful desert, we were treated to live music! The first group to perform was HOJA, an acapella group made up of three young men who serenaded the young ladies in the audience and got everyone out of their seat to dance on the dance floor. 

As much as we wanted to stay, our Alberta weather treated us to snow and we began our journey back to our wonderful city. 

To everyone we spoke to that night, thank you for making our experience so wonderful! We are both blessed to have been invited to such an event. We are truly proud to call Alberta home. 

Emily Marston

2016 Miss Rodeo Airdrie 

Feb 3, 2017 - Air 106.1 & AAAS (Alberta Association of Agricultural Societies)

This was such a fun filled day with radio interview with the Airdrie station Air 106.1, and we were promoting our program and that we are looking for contestants for the upcoming 2017 Miss Rodeo Airdrie Pageant. Talking with Joël Lamoureux around 7 am, we had some fun talking about the daily make-up routines as well as what is involved in the pageant itself. Now as our interview came to a close, Joël thought it would fun to have a pageant of his own so he asked both Emily and I to answer an impromptu question. “Which farm animal is better, chicken or cow?” The questions kept us on our toes while we came up with some fun answers. Thank You Air 106.1 again for allowing us to come and hang out with you this morning. So much fun.

Then we were off to take part of the 2017 AAAS Convention in Edmonton! Not knowing what to expect when we arrived at the Ramada hotel but we found we were surrounded by the most incredible people who help keep our heritage strong. Airdrie was represented by Brenda Moon  who is apart of the Airdrie AG Society and helped tour us around alongside Mike Labelle (MC for the night) with Miss Rodeo Canada Ali Mullin.

As the night began, we took part in a cocktail party to mix and mingle with the sponsors and MLA’s for the area of Edmonton. We were fortunate to escorted ATCO Energy, Foster Park Brokers Inc., Peavy Mart and Servus Credit Union to the main stage of the banquet where we were then recognized on behalf of the Airdrie Pro Rodeo.

We are forever thankful for their continued sponsorship into Alberta Agriculture. The exciting acts of the night that were displaying their talent was the acapella group HOJA and extremely talented Krissy Feniak.

We have to give a huge thank you to Lisa Hardy, Jody Seeley and Mike Labelle for inviting us. This was one trip in the books that we will remember for a long time. Just an incredible experience for Emily and I to be apart of, so thank you.

Yours Truly,

Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess 2016

Katie Hlushak

Airdrie Day - with the Calgary Hitman

Friday Dec 30st, 2016 - Airdrie Day at the Calgary Hitmen Hockey Game

It was a  game night that focused on the city of Airdrie, including a RE/MAX 50-50, with all proceeds donated to the Airdrie Public Library, and an opportunity for the group to sell raffle tickets and benefit from sales.The Airdrie Public Library and the Rotary Club of Airdrie have teamed together with the Calgary Hitmen Hockey Club to offer a unique opportunity for community groups in Airdrie to raise funds. This was our 2nd year.

Joining us from the association to help sell pucks was Secretary - Lorie Perry & Royalty Director - Leanne Grenier. What a great night to get involved to be a bit behind the scenes, knowing we could hit up all our "friends" that also bought tickets to the game, supporting the Airdrie non-for profit groups involved.

We were fortunate to take part and sell rubber pucks for the puck toss after the 2nd period. People who bought puck's got to throw them as close as they could to center ice and then there was 10 eligible winners for several Prizes.

My voice was definitely sore after that night because of the yelling to try and get people's attention while the hockey game was going on and the loud music. The experience of getting to go behind the scenes and seeing all the people who put on the production of a hockey game is unreal. They even told us that the puck toss & collection could only take 3 mins. We had the opportunity to to be on the ice to help clean off pucks (trying not to fall) and get off in a timely matter. 

We then got to go back to the Airdrie suite box to watch the 3rd period and mingle with other organizations from Airdrie as well as our Mayor Peter Brown. He ended up buying a puck from us with the number 649 and he got us to sign the puck for good luck…. Then we we found out after that he liked the puck so much that he didn’t throw it on the ice and kept it for a nice souvenir. 

Thank you to Perry Logan for organizing such a successful Airdrie Day. Cannot wait to take part in it again next year.

Yours Truly,

Airdrie Pro Rodeo Princess 2016

Katie Hlushak

Christmas with Stephen's Backpacks

It never ceases to amaze me at how generous our community is. Even if our province is going through tough times we have each  others backs.  Hundreds of young children will be warm this winter thanks to the Community of Airdrie and Stephens Backpacks. 

On December 2nd Katie and I visited some amazing local business, donating to this great program.  Our stops included the Airdrie TD Bank, Superstore and The Dollar Store collecting goodie bags, backpacks and other donations which we took to the Stephen Backpacks head quarters. 
Upon arrival we started to sort the various donations the began packing hundreds of backpacks with warm winter wear, books and teddies for different organization across Alberta. 

Fun Fact - for those of you involved or have heard of the Teddy Bear toss with the Calgary Hitman Hockey Club, Stephen's Backpacks graciously received some of the stuffies from that night.



Thanks to all who also came out to participate and help us stuff the backpacks.
        Crossfield Pete Knight Rodeo Queen - Mikayla Carlin.  
        2011 APR Princess Alumni - Rebecca Moor
        Royalty Director - Leanne Grenier
        Rodeo Secretary - Lorie Young 

 

For someone who is such a young age, I am quite in awe of what Stephen has accomplished. He is the true definition of a kind hearted, good hearted person.  Every time Katie and I get to visit, we feel this warmth when we enter the room. I will never forget these visits and opportunities that Stephen and his family have invited us on, it makes me feel that no matter how big our community gets, we will always be there to support one another in a small town kinda way.

Emily Marston
2016 Miss Rodeo Airdrie