No Title

May was such a productive month as I continued to work on my personal goals for Miss Indiana and as I further strengthened my platform. As I continue to speak to the public about our environmental issues, I have found that my platform has grown and developed more this year than ever before. This month, I spoke to some older groups of children and was pleasantly surprised at their level of knowledge on air quality issues. I found that throughout my presentations, I was learning just as much from their comments and questions as they were learning from me and I loved how they challenged my thoughts and opinions with questions and concerns.

As news of a wind farm project comes to my home county, I have also been faced with much adversity from adults in my community. I hope I was able to put to rest concerns and fears as I spoke to members of my community. I assured them that we must be optimistic and take chances on these HUGE opportunities. I also shared how excited I was to be able to go to Miss Indiana next month and say that as an advocate for a more sustainable lifestyle, I am so proud to come from a community that is welcoming both a solar panel production plant and an 80-125 turbine wind farm!

Preparing for Miss Indiana has been even more of a challenge than I had ever imagined, but I am anxious to see my hard work pay off when everything comes together during Miss Indiana Week. Kickoff was so exciting and I am thrilled to be contestant #2! I look forward to being in the company of so many beautiful, talented young ladies and representing my title counties! If you have never been to the Miss Indiana pageant, I encourage you to go and support some of the most intelligent and talented women in Indiana. You can buy your tickets online at: http://www.missindianapageant.com/tickets.html

April was such a busy and exciting month for my platform. I was extremely busy with Earth Day activities throughout the entire month. April consisted of diligent work on my paperwork for Miss Indiana and the end result is something I am extremely proud of and excited about. I know that my paperwork reveals the very best about me and my continuing efforts to clean up our air and educate people about the importance of good air quality.

This month, I submitted a proclamation to Governor Daniels to have June 5-11 declared “Clear the Air” week in Indiana. Authoring the proclamation was a new experience, but a rewarding one. I am so glad I was able to propose a week in which people can celebrate and learn the importance of improving our air quality. I am anxious to see if my proclamation is approved and I look forward to planning “Clear the Air” week activities!

I also made several appearances to schools across the state. It is so important to educate our youth. Children are the future of our state and it is critical that we utilize them as a tool to improve our future. I spoke at several schools including Oaklandon Environmental School, East Elementary, and Life Preschool and was able to hand out saplings donated by Millbrook Tree Farm. I encouraged the kids to plant the trees at home as a means for improving our air quality. Trees are an important part of the natural carbon cycle and help rid the atmosphere of harmful CO2. In addition to teaching the students at Life Preschool about air pollution, we did an Earth Day craft in which they decorated and cut out pieces of the earth or recycling logo. We then assembled the pieces into a hanging mobile. I was surprised at the knowledge of the students I spoke with and how they were really trying to live their lives in a more environmentally-friendly manner. It was exciting to discover a new generation of kids that are concerned about our environment.

April was also the beginning of a very extensive month of designing and constructing my website in support of my platform. It has been a long process but the website is almost finished and will be online in no time to provide a valuable teaching tool for teachers and the general public. It will provide important insight about how to clean up our air and will follow me on my journey to make a difference.

This month, I volunteered at two very important events in support of my platform; Earth Day Indiana and Anderson Earth Day Arbor Fest. At Earth Day Indiana, I worked with Pedal and Park to park, secure, and monitor bikes so people could utilize green transportation to the festival and have a secure place to leave their bikes and strollers. Pedal and Park is a great organization and I look forward to continuing my work with them in the upcoming months! At Anderson Earth Day Arbor Fest, I participated in a 5k in support of my platform, “Let's Clear the Air”. I was so excited to have won first place and to be able to support a cause I am so passionate about. That same afternoon, I volunteered with the Madison County Council of Governments at the Clean Air Aware booth to educate and inform our public about this issue. We provided a gas can exchange in which people could trade their old gas cans for one with a new cap that prevents fumes from escaping into our air. I was also able to talk about my platform at the Mayor's luncheon and distribute awards to the winners of the biathlon.

April was a very busy, yet successful month for my platform and it was great to see such huge strides being taken in so many schools and communities. I look forward to my continued involvement with many of these organizations and groups! Though April has come to an end and Earth Day activities have subsided, I encourage everyone to continue their “green” efforts everyday and to continue to live more sustainably. Keep an eye out on the Miss Hoosier Valley facebook page for updates about my website. I promise it will be a valuable resource as each one of you moves toward a more sustainable lifestyle!

What a great month March was! I started out by submitting my first round of paperwork to my directors for Miss Indiana! Since then, we have continued to work hard, refining and enhancing my paperwork! It has been such a process but having the strongest resume and platform statement that I can have going into Miss Indiana week will be so rewarding!

During my spring break I was able to meet with Jodi Kurtz, who will be helping me choreograph my acrobatic dace routine for Miss Indiana! Jodi is fabulous and we are such a great fit! We chose my music and I can't wait to continue working with her over the next few months!

Rachael, Brianna, and I also had our state headshots taken this month. Thank you so much to Bridgette Harmon Photography for donating our pictures. With the help of the committee, I was able to select the photo I will be using as my headshot. I am so pleased with the one we chose! We had so much fun spending the day at Bridgette's studio and working with her! It was so nice to spend time with my beautiful Miss Hoosier Heartland sisters and my amazing directors!

I was so fortunate to be asked by the Kokomo Tribune to judge the regional spelling bee in Kokomo. I was able to meet such talented kids and I felt like I had come full circle since I, too, had one a spelling bee in elementary school! I had such a great evening with Debbie Downing and the other judges and was able to meet some people that I can work with on my platform in the future!

I was able to attend two more locals this month and had the honor of watching the crowning s of the new Miss Huntington and Miss Ball State. How exciting it is to have Mindi Hoffman and Kara Mitchell join our family! They are both such beautiful and talented women!

I have also been so busy working on my platform and setting up speaking engagements and volunteer opportunities. I hope to get everything secured as we move into next month. With Earth Day in April, it is sure to be absolutely packed as I travel the state educating the public about what we can do to keep our air clean! As we move into April, think about what YOU can do to help clean up our air. Here are a few of my suggestions: walk, bike, or take public transportation to work or school if possible and be conscious about how much energy you are using-this is one of the largest sources of harmful emissions!

I started the month with one of the most fun events I have been to yet! I was so lucky to be asked to attend the father-daughter dance hosted by the Kokomo Tribune. I absolutely loved seeing all the little girls dressed up and their proud fathers! What a fun experience! I was able to help pin corsages and then sign autographs later in the evening. The girls were so supportive and I was disappointed when I ran out of autograph cards. Fortunately, I was able to get the remaining girls' addresses…I hope they enjoyed their little surprise in the mail the next week! At the end of the night, I was able to get out on the dance floor with the girls! I had such a good time taking the opportunity to dance with each girl individually!

This month I was also able to participate in two fashions shows for Unique Boutique and Bridal. The first of the 2 was in Greenfield and I was able to model two beautiful dresses in the show. The next weekend in Richmond drew a huge crowd! This time, I had 4 wardrobe changes and we had so much fun being escorted on stage by some of the men from Kicks 96 and surrounding high schools. Suzie did such a wonderful job putting on the show and I was so lucky to spend time with Miss Hoosier Heartland 2010, Diana True! What an exciting month I had!

I hope everyone has started out the year as positively and as motivated as I have! I look forward to all that 2011 will bring! Rachael, Brianna, and I brought in the New Year in downtown Kokomo and had a blast celebrating with the local people! We were welcomed with huge smiles and warm hearts despite the unusual, rainy weather. Upon arrival we were featured on the radio and then rushed over to one of the local restaurants to get a picture with the chef. Right before midnight we went up on stage and were introduced to the large crowd. At midnight we counted down to the ball drop, sang Auld Lang Syne with the band and watched the fireworks. We had such a great time and were so lucky to be escorted around by Miss Hoosier Heartland's Outstanding Teen Director, Elise Duncan and to have such unusually warm weather so we could all show off our festive attire!

I was so fortunate this month to be able to utilize two of the generous donations I received from the pageant. Thanks so much to Miss Priss for the gift certificate to use toward my evening gown and to Dale Lovell at Hair Matterz for giving me beautiful hair on my birthday (and for months to come!).

Since then, my month has been full of platform refining and brainstorming. I have been working so hard to narrow my platform of sustainability and am so excited to have arrived upon a direction in which to focus my attention. I look forward to dedicating so much of my time and effort to such a critical issue!

What a fabulous month it has been! The holidays are a great time to be out and about visiting with people. I ended November with a fun appearance at the holiday craft fair in place Kokomo. I had the privilege of working the children's booth all day. I am so excited my princess, Halle, got to attend the event for a couple hours. We had so much fun coloring, putting together crafts, and playing games with the kids that came through with their parents. It was also nice to give the parents some time to shop around!

The next weekend, Halle and I were back in Kokomo for a fun-filled event downtown. We starting off by helping kids write letters to Santa and drop them in the mailbox. Halle even had time to write her own letter. Santa rode in on a train shortly after the start of the event and then Halle and I headed over to the craft booth. We helped so many kids make little snowman pails and stuff a little treat inside. We also got the chance to sign some autographs! Later in the day, we went outside to help open the door to Santa's house while families went in to visit. I had so much fun talking to all the kids in line who were so excited to see Santa! That same day, I headed to Muncie for the Miss South Central and Miss Hoosier Heritage scholarship pageants. Congratulations to Dale, David, and Ryan for putting on such a beautiful show and to all the contestants for a fabulous job! I am so glad I was able to help!

Our Miss Indiana week shopping officially started this month with a trip to Keystone with the committee. It was great to learn so much about myself and to get such great advice from our wonderful directors! I am so excited about my purchases and I cannot wait to continue shopping with my pageant family!

I can't even put into words how excited I am to be Miss Hoosier Valley (MHV) 2011! As a little girl, it was always my dream to be part of this organization, but I never thought my goal was actually attainable. I am so lucky to have been introduced to this program and supported by so many people who want to see me reach my every goal and dream.

The pageant and the few weeks leading up to it were an absolute whirlwind! I wasn't planning on competing, but decided that the 30th anniversary would be a great opportunity to have a wonderful day and celebrate the program. The day of the pageant was a bit catastrophic and on top of forgetting a mirror, among other things, my cake (that I spent literally 4 days decorating because I had never decorated a cake before) got dropped and completely mutilated! I was so upset and told my mom I wanted to quit right then.

Fortunately, I stuck with it and it all paid off! Since the pageant, I have tried to take advantage of every single experience I have been offered. As a newcomer to the program, I am so thrilled for every opportunity I will have this year as a titleholder and am really looking forward to my experiences during Miss placeStateIndiana week.

I have been so lucky to have already met a few of the other titleholders and to attend a few local preliminaries. I have participated in a few parades at the beginning of fall and had the opportunity to go back to my home town festival and speak about my experiences in the MHV program. How amazing it was for me to get up in front of my community and talk about where I came from (competing for the first time on that very stage), to where I am now (preparing to compete for the title of Miss Indiana).

I got to make an appearance at Kokomo High School for the “Taste of Home Cooking” show. I really enjoyed helping out with door prizes and having the opportunity to meet so many great people in the community. I was also able to attend my very first Zionsville Lion's Club event at Lion's park. I met some of the Miss Indiana committee and had so much fun painting pumpkins, playing games, taking a hayride, and judging the costume contest. I am so excited for many more events with the Lion's Club! These volunteers are terrific!!

This past weekend, Debra, Abby, and I were able to take our first mini shopping trip! What a great time I had with such fabulous directors. They were able to help me select a couple pieces for my Miss Indiana wardrobe and the dress I will be wearing to celebrate New Year's Eve in downtown Kokomo. They really know what they are talking about when it comes to fashion and I loved having their input on my wardrobe.

Assisting Courtney Jurick, Miss Three Rivers 2011 raise funds for the March of Dimes this week has been inspirational. It was so much fun spending time with Ms. Jurick, a fellow Miss Indiana competitor. We canvassed the food court on Ball State's campus soliciting donations. We collected over $50 in change to contribute to her total of almost $850. I am happy and excited for Courtney and wish her luck with her continued support for the March of Dimes!

Erika Tishner was recently crowned Miss Hoosier Valley 2011. She is the twenty-one year old daughter of Ron and Lisa Cole and Brett Tishner. She graduated from Tipton High School in 2007 and is now a Senior at Ball State University studying Architecture and pursuing a minor in interior design. Erika competed in five areas of competition which included interview, on-stage question, talent, swimsuit, and evening wear. Preliminary awards were given for interview, talent, and swimsuit and Erika won two out of the three, taking home the interview award and swimsuit award for being the highest scoring contestant in both categories. She received scholarships for both preliminary awards and for winning the title. Her four year old sister, Halle Cole, accompanied Erika as a princess during the competition and will be making appearances with her as well as participating in the Miss Indiana princess program. Erika will be competing in the Miss Indiana pageant June 19th-25th at the performing arts center in Zionsville alongside thirty-one other preliminary titleholders. Also, competing in the Miss Hoosier Valley pageant was Rachael Bazzell who won the title of Miss Hoosier Heartand and Brianna Barmes became Miss Hoosier Heartland's Outstanding Teen.


	Miss Hoosier Heartland and Miss Hoosier Valley Scholarship Organization, Inc. TABLE OF CONTENTS Erika's Blog Page May 31, 2011 Wow, time is flying by and we are moving into June….Miss Indiana Pageant month is here! May was such a productive month as I continued to work on my personal goals for Miss Indiana and as I further strengthened my platform. As I continue to speak to the public about our environmental issues, I have found that my platform has grown and developed more this year than ever before. This month, I spoke to some older groups of children and was pleasantly surprised at their level of knowledge on air quality issues. I found that throughout my presentations, I was learning just as much from their comments and questions as they were learning from me and I loved how they challenged my thoughts and opinions with questions and concerns. I am so proud to have gotten my website up this month and in full swing! Check it out at: letscleartheair.weebly.com and find out what you can do to clean up our air! As news of a wind farm project comes to my home county, I have also been faced with much adversity from adults in my community. I hope I was able to put to rest concerns and fears as I spoke to members of my community. I assured them that we must be optimistic and take chances on these HUGE opportunities. I also shared how excited I was to be able to go to Miss Indiana next month and say that as an advocate for a more sustainable lifestyle, I am so proud to come from a community that is welcoming both a solar panel production plant and an 80-125 turbine wind farm! Preparing for Miss Indiana has been even more of a challenge than I had ever imagined, but I am anxious to see my hard work pay off when everything comes together during Miss Indiana Week. Kickoff was so exciting and I am thrilled to be contestant #2! I look forward to being in the company of so many beautiful, talented young ladies and representing my title counties! If you have never been to the Miss Indiana pageant, I encourage you to go and support some of the most intelligent and talented women in Indiana. You can buy your tickets online at: http://www.missindianapageant.com/tickets.html Also be sure to follow me on facebook at: facebook.com/MHVorganization Many Blessings, Erika Tishner, Miss Hoosier Valley 2011 April 30, 2011 April was such a busy and exciting month for my platform. I was extremely busy with Earth Day activities throughout the entire month. April consisted of diligent work on my paperwork for Miss Indiana and the end result is something I am extremely proud of and excited about. I know that my paperwork reveals the very best about me and my continuing efforts to clean up our air and educate people about the importance of good air quality. This month, I submitted a proclamation to Governor Daniels to have June 5-11 declared “Clear the Air” week in Indiana. Authoring the proclamation was a new experience, but a rewarding one. I am so glad I was able to propose a week in which people can celebrate and learn the importance of improving our air quality. I am anxious to see if my proclamation is approved and I look forward to planning “Clear the Air” week activities! I also made several appearances to schools across the state. It is so important to educate our youth. Children are the future of our state and it is critical that we utilize them as a tool to improve our future. I spoke at several schools including Oaklandon Environmental School, East Elementary, and Life Preschool and was able to hand out saplings donated by Millbrook Tree Farm. I encouraged the kids to plant the trees at home as a means for improving our air quality. Trees are an important part of the natural carbon cycle and help rid the atmosphere of harmful CO2. In addition to teaching the students at Life Preschool about air pollution, we did an Earth Day craft in which they decorated and cut out pieces of the earth or recycling logo. We then assembled the pieces into a hanging mobile. I was surprised at the knowledge of the students I spoke with and how they were really trying to live their lives in a more environmentally-friendly manner. It was exciting to discover a new generation of kids that are concerned about our environment. April was also the beginning of a very extensive month of designing and constructing my website in support of my platform. It has been a long process but the website is almost finished and will be online in no time to provide a valuable teaching tool for teachers and the general public. It will provide important insight about how to clean up our air and will follow me on my journey to make a difference. This month, I volunteered at two very important events in support of my platform; Earth Day Indiana and Anderson Earth Day Arbor Fest. At Earth Day Indiana, I worked with Pedal and Park to park, secure, and monitor bikes so people could utilize green transportation to the festival and have a secure place to leave their bikes and strollers. Pedal and Park is a great organization and I look forward to continuing my work with them in the upcoming months! At Anderson Earth Day Arbor Fest, I participated in a 5k in support of my platform, “Let's Clear the Air”. I was so excited to have won first place and to be able to support a cause I am so passionate about. That same afternoon, I volunteered with the Madison County Council of Governments at the Clean Air Aware booth to educate and inform our public about this issue. We provided a gas can exchange in which people could trade their old gas cans for one with a new cap that prevents fumes from escaping into our air. I was also able to talk about my platform at the Mayor's luncheon and distribute awards to the winners of the biathlon. April was a very busy, yet successful month for my platform and it was great to see such huge strides being taken in so many schools and communities. I look forward to my continued involvement with many of these organizations and groups! Though April has come to an end and Earth Day activities have subsided, I encourage everyone to continue their “green” efforts everyday and to continue to live more sustainably. Keep an eye out on the Miss Hoosier Valley facebook page for updates about my website. I promise it will be a valuable resource as each one of you moves toward a more sustainable lifestyle! Best wishes in May! Erika Tishner Miss Hoosier Valley 2011 March 31, 2011 What a great month March was! I started out by submitting my first round of paperwork to my directors for Miss Indiana! Since then, we have continued to work hard, refining and enhancing my paperwork! It has been such a process but having the strongest resume and platform statement that I can have going into Miss Indiana week will be so rewarding! During my spring break I was able to meet with Jodi Kurtz, who will be helping me choreograph my acrobatic dace routine for Miss Indiana! Jodi is fabulous and we are such a great fit! We chose my music and I can't wait to continue working with her over the next few months! This month I also started attending open gym to work on my tumbling for my talent routine. It feels so good to push myself and to get back into such great shape! Rachael, Brianna, and I also had our state headshots taken this month. Thank you so much to Bridgette Harmon Photography for donating our pictures. With the help of the committee, I was able to select the photo I will be using as my headshot. I am so pleased with the one we chose! We had so much fun spending the day at Bridgette's studio and working with her! It was so nice to spend time with my beautiful Miss Hoosier Heartland sisters and my amazing directors! I was so fortunate to be asked by the Kokomo Tribune to judge the regional spelling bee in Kokomo. I was able to meet such talented kids and I felt like I had come full circle since I, too, had one a spelling bee in elementary school! I had such a great evening with Debbie Downing and the other judges and was able to meet some people that I can work with on my platform in the future! I was able to attend two more locals this month and had the honor of watching the crowning s of the new Miss Huntington and Miss Ball State. How exciting it is to have Mindi Hoffman and Kara Mitchell join our family! They are both such beautiful and talented women! I have also been so busy working on my platform and setting up speaking engagements and volunteer opportunities. I hope to get everything secured as we move into next month. With Earth Day in April, it is sure to be absolutely packed as I travel the state educating the public about what we can do to keep our air clean! As we move into April, think about what YOU can do to help clean up our air. Here are a few of my suggestions: walk, bike, or take public transportation to work or school if possible and be conscious about how much energy you are using-this is one of the largest sources of harmful emissions! Go green! Erika Tishner, Miss Hoosier Valley, 2011 February 25, 2011 Hello friends and family! 2011 is in full swing and I have continued preparation for Miss Indiana in June! My year of service is FLYING by but I am having an amazing time! I started the month with one of the most fun events I have been to yet! I was so lucky to be asked to attend the father-daughter dance hosted by the Kokomo Tribune. I absolutely loved seeing all the little girls dressed up and their proud fathers! What a fun experience! I was able to help pin corsages and then sign autographs later in the evening. The girls were so supportive and I was disappointed when I ran out of autograph cards. Fortunately, I was able to get the remaining girls' addresses…I hope they enjoyed their little surprise in the mail the next week! At the end of the night, I was able to get out on the dance floor with the girls! I had such a good time taking the opportunity to dance with each girl individually! This month I was also able to participate in two fashions shows for Unique Boutique and Bridal. The first of the 2 was in Greenfield and I was able to model two beautiful dresses in the show. The next weekend in Richmond drew a huge crowd! This time, I had 4 wardrobe changes and we had so much fun being escorted on stage by some of the men from Kicks 96 and surrounding high schools. Suzie did such a wonderful job putting on the show and I was so lucky to spend time with Miss Hoosier Heartland 2010, Diana True! What an exciting month I had! Many Blessings, Erika Tishner, Miss Hoosier Valley, 2011 January 26, 2011 Happy New Year! I hope everyone has started out the year as positively and as motivated as I have! I look forward to all that 2011 will bring! Rachael, Brianna, and I brought in the New Year in downtown Kokomo and had a blast celebrating with the local people! We were welcomed with huge smiles and warm hearts despite the unusual, rainy weather. Upon arrival we were featured on the radio and then rushed over to one of the local restaurants to get a picture with the chef. Right before midnight we went up on stage and were introduced to the large crowd. At midnight we counted down to the ball drop, sang Auld Lang Syne with the band and watched the fireworks. We had such a great time and were so lucky to be escorted around by Miss Hoosier Heartland's Outstanding Teen Director, Elise Duncan and to have such unusually warm weather so we could all show off our festive attire! A week or so later, most of the MHH/MHV committee and titleholders took a trip to Lexington to Miss Priss. I am so excited to have found my evening gown for Miss Indiana and had so much fun bonding with the entire group! I was so fortunate this month to be able to utilize two of the generous donations I received from the pageant. Thanks so much to Miss Priss for the gift certificate to use toward my evening gown and to Dale Lovell at Hair Matterz for giving me beautiful hair on my birthday (and for months to come!). Since then, my month has been full of platform refining and brainstorming. I have been working so hard to narrow my platform of sustainability and am so excited to have arrived upon a direction in which to focus my attention. I look forward to dedicating so much of my time and effort to such a critical issue! Many blessings in the New Year, Erika Tishner, Miss Hoosier Valley 2011 December 20, 2010 What a fabulous month it has been! The holidays are a great time to be out and about visiting with people. I ended November with a fun appearance at the holiday craft fair in place Kokomo. I had the privilege of working the children's booth all day. I am so excited my princess, Halle, got to attend the event for a couple hours. We had so much fun coloring, putting together crafts, and playing games with the kids that came through with their parents. It was also nice to give the parents some time to shop around! The next weekend, Halle and I were back in Kokomo for a fun-filled event downtown. We starting off by helping kids write letters to Santa and drop them in the mailbox. Halle even had time to write her own letter. Santa rode in on a train shortly after the start of the event and then Halle and I headed over to the craft booth. We helped so many kids make little snowman pails and stuff a little treat inside. We also got the chance to sign some autographs! Later in the day, we went outside to help open the door to Santa's house while families went in to visit. I had so much fun talking to all the kids in line who were so excited to see Santa! That same day, I headed to Muncie for the Miss South Central and Miss Hoosier Heritage scholarship pageants. Congratulations to Dale, David, and Ryan for putting on such a beautiful show and to all the contestants for a fabulous job! I am so glad I was able to help! Our Miss Indiana week shopping officially started this month with a trip to Keystone with the committee. It was great to learn so much about myself and to get such great advice from our wonderful directors! I am so excited about my purchases and I cannot wait to continue shopping with my pageant family! I am so thoroughly enjoying my experiences and I can't wait for all of the memories to come! Happy Holidays, Erika Tishner, Miss Hoosier Valley 2011 November 19, 2010 I can't even put into words how excited I am to be Miss Hoosier Valley (MHV) 2011! As a little girl, it was always my dream to be part of this organization, but I never thought my goal was actually attainable. I am so lucky to have been introduced to this program and supported by so many people who want to see me reach my every goal and dream. The pageant and the few weeks leading up to it were an absolute whirlwind! I wasn't planning on competing, but decided that the 30th anniversary would be a great opportunity to have a wonderful day and celebrate the program. The day of the pageant was a bit catastrophic and on top of forgetting a mirror, among other things, my cake (that I spent literally 4 days decorating because I had never decorated a cake before) got dropped and completely mutilated! I was so upset and told my mom I wanted to quit right then. Fortunately, I stuck with it and it all paid off! Since the pageant, I have tried to take advantage of every single experience I have been offered. As a newcomer to the program, I am so thrilled for every opportunity I will have this year as a titleholder and am really looking forward to my experiences during Miss placeStateIndiana week. I have been so lucky to have already met a few of the other titleholders and to attend a few local preliminaries. I have participated in a few parades at the beginning of fall and had the opportunity to go back to my home town festival and speak about my experiences in the MHV program. How amazing it was for me to get up in front of my community and talk about where I came from (competing for the first time on that very stage), to where I am now (preparing to compete for the title of Miss Indiana). I got to make an appearance at Kokomo High School for the “Taste of Home Cooking” show. I really enjoyed helping out with door prizes and having the opportunity to meet so many great people in the community. I was also able to attend my very first Zionsville Lion's Club event at Lion's park. I met some of the Miss Indiana committee and had so much fun painting pumpkins, playing games, taking a hayride, and judging the costume contest. I am so excited for many more events with the Lion's Club! These volunteers are terrific!! This past weekend, Debra, Abby, and I were able to take our first mini shopping trip! What a great time I had with such fabulous directors. They were able to help me select a couple pieces for my Miss Indiana wardrobe and the dress I will be wearing to celebrate New Year's Eve in downtown Kokomo. They really know what they are talking about when it comes to fashion and I loved having their input on my wardrobe. Assisting Courtney Jurick, Miss Three Rivers 2011 raise funds for the March of Dimes this week has been inspirational. It was so much fun spending time with Ms. Jurick, a fellow Miss Indiana competitor. We canvassed the food court on Ball State's campus soliciting donations. We collected over $50 in change to contribute to her total of almost $850. I am happy and excited for Courtney and wish her luck with her continued support for the March of Dimes! Many Blessings, Erika Tishner, Miss Hoosier Valley 2011 News Release: Ball State Newspaper Ball State Student wins local preliminary for the Miss America Scholarship Organization Erika Tishner was recently crowned Miss Hoosier Valley 2011. She is the twenty-one year old daughter of Ron and Lisa Cole and Brett Tishner. She graduated from Tipton High School in 2007 and is now a Senior at Ball State University studying Architecture and pursuing a minor in interior design. Erika competed in five areas of competition which included interview, on-stage question, talent, swimsuit, and evening wear. Preliminary awards were given for interview, talent, and swimsuit and Erika won two out of the three, taking home the interview award and swimsuit award for being the highest scoring contestant in both categories. She received scholarships for both preliminary awards and for winning the title. Her four year old sister, Halle Cole, accompanied Erika as a princess during the competition and will be making appearances with her as well as participating in the Miss Indiana princess program. Erika will be competing in the Miss Indiana pageant June 19th-25th at the performing arts center in Zionsville alongside thirty-one other preliminary titleholders. Also, competing in the Miss Hoosier Valley pageant was Rachael Bazzell who won the title of Miss Hoosier Heartand and Brianna Barmes became Miss Hoosier Heartland's Outstanding Teen.