Williston Herald
WILLISTON, N.D. - She was more or less "tricked" into pageantry through enticing scholarship opportunities. Now, Jacqueline Marie Johnson is about to wrap up a whirlwind year by passing the crown to a new Miss North Dakota.
The state pageant to name her successor is scheduled June 8-10 in Williston.
"I can't stress enough how many doors have opened and how I've grown in the process," Johnson said of the past 12 months. "I can only hope that whoever is Miss North Dakota 2007 can have just as wonderful of an experience as I have had, and that she shares a part of herself, her unique characteristics and personality with the state.
"It's is going to be a very difficult, bittersweet week for me," she said.
When Johnson was a senior at Fargo North high school, she recalled, her counselor told her of a great scholarship opportunity.
"She told me, 'There's an interview portion to make sure you're well qualified for the scholarship and there's also a talent part,' Johnson said. "She left it at that, and I later found out that I was enrolled as a contestant in the Miss Fargo pageant."
She never would have competed if she had known it was a pageant, she said.
After being crowned Miss Fargo in March 2004, Johnson went on to win the interview portion as well as the swimsuit preliminaries in the 2005 Miss North Dakota pageant to be named first runner up.
She completed her first year at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., where she chose to double major in chemistry and psychology with the intention of entering medical school and minoring in music. Johnson decided to try again at the Miss North Dakota title, since she had come so close.
"I competed at another local and won Miss Red River Valley, advancing in June 2005 to Miss North Dakota. Now, 12 months later, I've had the greatest experience of my entire life," she said.
Johnson said the highlight of her reign has been touring the schools across the state. She said she will have reached more than 50,000 students when she wraps up her touring this month.
"You decide, 'I'm going to give a year to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' and you just hope that the year is fulfilling," she said. "It's been an amazing school tour. It's been so great that I've gone back to a number of schools more than once this year. And more have invited me back next year as a motivational speaker."
Johnson's message has been about the importance of blood donation. And, nearly every day for the past 12 months, she has met someone who has been affected by that.
Johnson helped organize blood drives within the schools throughout the year with the assistance of her national partner, United Blood Services.
"Since I was 17 (the legal age to donate blood in North Dakota), I've been working on this platform," said Johnson. "It's what I'm passionate about."
During her senior year in high school, she helped set up a blood drive with United Blood Services as a student council project.
"I thought, 'What a wonderful way to band together and save lives,'" she said. "I thought we should be doing more of this."
Now she can recite statistics on the need of blood around the world, nation and state, Johnson said she has a new realization of the importance of donating blood.
"I wanted to take my role and help others become more aware as well," she said.
Johnson advises other pageant contestants to choose a platform they are passionate about, and partner with a national organization if possible.
In a year filled with influencing people and life-changing experiences, Johnson was able to pick out two moments from her year as Miss North Dakota 2006 that stood out.
One involved the life story of 7-year-old twins named Haley and Logan, who were born severely premature. Their mother now works at United Blood Services.
"They were in need of many blood units and Logan also needed surgery at two weeks of age," Johnson explained. "I asked if I could use their story in the tour to help raise awareness."
With the twins' mother, Johnson wrote the story to present. Photos of the babies were enlarged and used as visuals.
"To see a picture of these babies that fit in the palm of a hand and whose dad could slip his wedding ring up to their shoulder, and then to see an after picture seven years later ... it was amazing how that impacted kids," she said.
Johnson was invited to speak at Logan and Haley's elementary school in West Fargo.
"To see the looks on the faces of their classmates and teachers who had no idea that these two individuals would not be here today if it weren't for blood donors - and then to see the results in their school blood drive, which had a wonderful turnout, really made me stand back and say, 'What a great story,'" she said.
The other story Johnson remembers is from an area high school where she was invited to talk about peer pressure and making decisions.
"Two girls stayed after to open up and share stories they had told no one in their entire life, about sexual abuse or being pressured to do drugs and alcohol. That they felt I was approachable, and that they could open up, share, cry, get advice and keep in touch was a great honor," she said.
Both girls have kept in touch and are on a positive track, she said.
"Just making one difference makes the year worth it," she said.
Music has always been a passion for Johnson. She learned to play the cello school, and performed with the All-State Orchestra all four years of high school.
Johnson said playing the cello while representing North Dakota on stage in front of 8,000 people live and 22 million television viewers was an unbelievable feeling.
When she returns to school in the fall, she will rejoin the symphony at Gustavus Adolphus College and give cello lessons.
As someone who never took a speech class before, Johnson said she has uncovered a hidden passion over the past 12 months - public speaking, especially to children.
"To get in front of a group of kids and hold their attention for three hours and have a good time doing it... I never imagined that would be something I would like so much," she said.
The experience has been so positive that she has thought twice about her career path.
"I'm very driven and I always knew I wanted to be in the pediatrics and medical field. But taking the role of a motivational speaker has been a secret passion I never knew I had," she said. "When you get a taste of the real world, it makes you ready for more."
As sophomore next fall, Johnson said, she will return to Gustavus Adolphus to finish her double major, although she will experiment with an education course.
"I believe my dealings with people this year has taught me much more than eight to 10 years of college could teach me," she said.
Even after passing the crown to a new Miss North Dakota, Johnson may have more time to spend with her family. Her father, Gary, who escorted his daughter in the evening gown competition in the Miss America pageant, is an account executive for Newman Outdoor Advertising; Her mother, Caroline, is a homemaker and "a botanist at heart," Jacqueline said. She has two sisters, 15-year-old Cassandra and 4-year-old Lauren.
"Watch out North Dakota," Jacqueline said of her little sister. "She already walks around the house in high heels with her nails painted pink and a cell phone."
Source: http://www.grandforks.com/mld/grandforks/news/14629198.htm
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