Miss Baltimore: Day 1

I walk into Holabird Academy donned in my crown and sash, feeling immense pride as I strut my stuff into the main office. The support and love from my Holabird family was unbelievable, and I was still floating on cloud nine. As I walk into my classroom with my morning coffee and copies for the day, I see KW and her mother standing there. They were fifteen minutes early that Monday morning, and KW's mother seemed to have something on her mind.

 KW is one of my newer students who came to me about halfway through the year, but she is an exceptional little girl who is catching up very fast. I have no doubt she'll be prepared for first grade if she continues to work as hard as she's been doing. When I see KW, I immediately put my tiara on top of her little head and she honestly wears it with more grace than I do. As she struts her stuff around the classroom, her mother asks me how she's been doing in class. I tell her that she's been fine, even though she admittedly is below grade level I believe she'll be able to catch up in no time.

KW's mother still looks troubled, and I think to myself that there must be something else she wants to mention to me. I ask if she wants to talk in private, and we step outside of the classroom as KW gets started on writing about her weekend in her journal. KW's mother asks specifically about how her behavior has been in class, and I tell her that she actually is one of the most well-behaved kids in my class and is constantly rewarded for that. Her mother, relieved, then says, "Well, I've just been worried about her since her father passed away two weeks ago. That's why she's only missed that one day of school the day after Valentine's Day. He committed suicide. Hung himself, and left me with five children. Every day KWwalks past his grave on the way to school and asks if she can visit Daddy, and I've just been worried if she says anything about it at recess when you're outside since he's buried right across the street..."

I reassure her that her daughter is an angel and light in my life, and that there is nothing she needs to worry about on this end. I ask if there's anything I can do, and KW's mother shares with me that she can't help but continue to ask herself what she could have done differently, and how on earth could someone abandon a little girl as precious as KW.

I look down at my new "Miss Baltimore" sash and glance into my classroom at the brilliant child with a sparkly tiara atop her head. Reality sets in, and I realize that this is my first memory as Miss Baltimore. This is the reason I am here. This is the place I am meant to be.

I believe God sends me signs like this to clearly remind me of my purpose on this earth. He knows I'm stubborn...and it takes an obvious moment such as this to communicate WHY I am where I am today. I've dedicated myself to making transformational change in the lives of children my life's work.

When the bell rang to start the morning, I asked KW if she'd be willing to share the crown with her classmates. As each exceptional child walked through the doorway that morning, I put that crown on top of his/her head and told them that THEY were the reason I loved Baltimore and that this crown belonged to THEM.

Teach For America: Ensuring Educational Equity for All

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For the past four years, Newsweek, Education Week, and the College Board have ranked Maryland as the number one state in the country for education. However, in Baltimore City we have more than a third of our students living in poverty, 40% failing to graduate from high school and less than one child in six graduating from college. Test scores only further underscore the stark differences within our state. Recent Maryland School Assessment data shows only 59% of City eighth graders are proficient in reading and 40% are proficient in math, where in Howard County the proficiencies are 91% and 86% respectively. In Baltimore, the neighborhood where a child is born too often dictates his or her academic destiny and access to life opportunities. While there have been improvements in enrollment, graduation rates, and standardized test scores, work remains to be done. This is where my personal narrative comes into this story.

            My mission is to serve as an advocate for the civil rights movement of my generation: to ensure that one day all children in this nation will have the opportunity to attain an excellent education. When you give kids the opportunities they deserve, I believe that they will succeed. I want to show the world, through my experiences, what children can do when given the opportunity to receive an outstanding education.

My platform has become my life’s work. Today, I’m proud to share the success stories of the twenty-four brilliant individuals in my kindergarten classroom. In my classroom we have a little cheer, and this special call and response I begin every morning goes like this: “I know I can be what I want to be. And if I work hard at it, I can be what I want to be!”  My students simply love this. Every morning we do it and every morning they act as if it is the very meaning and drive to their little lives. Well, now Miss Thomas finally has a concrete example for them of what she wants to be.

After five years of preparation within the Miss America Organization, I look forward to the opportunity to compete in my last year of eligibility for the title of Miss Maryland. I attribute an immense amount of my successes to my education. I have worked extremely hard throughout my educational career, especially during the four years I was in college. I also attribute my success to the incredible people in my life that supported me and helped me be the best I can be, many of whom I met in school or at college. Not that my students ever doubted me, but hopefully it will be as real as ever to them. I know that if “I work hard at it” I can become who I want to be: Miss Maryland 2013.

I hope that my influence with my students doesn't just stop in the classroom. I hope that by the possibility of becoming Miss Maryland, I can motivate and inspire others to work hard and set their minds on becoming anything “they want to be”.  I know the world is full of endless possibilities and I want to help empower others to want and earn success. Hopefully, the title of Miss Maryland will be the very beginning of that.

A special "thank you" to Brittany Toll, TFA Corps Member 2009, who has been an inspiration to me both personally and professionally. I hope you don't mind that I echoed some of your sentiments that you wrote during your time as Miss New Mexico :) 

YOLO

On Saturday March 2, 2013 a tiara and sash were placed on my body and I became Miss Baltimore 2013 and thus the newest Miss Maryland hopeful. This will be my fifth and final year of involvement within the Miss America Organization, and I've come to the realization that my personal theme for this year is: YOLO!

In all seriousness, the title of Miss Baltimore represents an immense amount of pride and joy for me personally, but most of all for my students. I've always dreamed of someday becoming Miss Maryland and having the possibility of becoming Maryland's first Miss America, but I would be lying if I said that I haven't experienced personal setbacks. My first year of competing, I never won a local. In my second year within the organization, I was secretly hiding my own battle with suicide and my mother's alcohol addiction. In my third year, I stood on the Miss Maryland stage as a runner-up on a Saturday night, and within 24 hours was unpacking my bags in Philadelphia, prepared to start my first day of student teaching in an inner city summer school.  

For those of you who know me, you are well aware of the trials and tribulations that came my way this past year. A week before Christmas my home was broken into and I was robbed, I had a student steal my wallet from my out of my desk in my classroom, my relationship with someone I considered my best friend ended after we were together for almost five years, I endured endless amounts of expletives coming out of the mouths of troubled seven-year-old children, in addition to a fair share of chairs and desks thrown throughout the course of a school year, and I didn’t even make top ten at Miss Maryland.

I tell folks that I've become pretty talented at losing Miss Maryland, and as the old adage goes: "always a bridesmaid and never a bride." But there were two main motivators for me to compete in my last year: my students and my city.

I realized I need to practice what I preach day in and day out at Holabird Academy: to persevere no matter what setbacks life may throw at you. This has been a personal dream of mine, and even though I've been knocked down I always tell my kids that you MUST MUST MUST get back up. And then, of course, there's Baltimore. I live, work, and go to school in Baltimore. This city is my home, and this city has my heart. I've never held a local title for a place that I've ever been devoted to, and walking into work as Miss Baltimore that first Monday morning was simply WAY better than ever becoming Miss America - because for my students, Baltimore is their WORLD. 

I cannot express in words what an honor it is to represent this city and its people, but this year is one that I will cherish forever.

XOXO
Danna