Miss Montana Visits Area Youth

 

March 27, 2019

Miss Montana 2018, Laura Haller, visited Zurich on March 19 as part of her Crown to Classroom Tour.

Miss Montana 2018, Laura Haller visited Zurich on March 19, where she presented to Zurich Elementary, Bear Paw School, and Cleveland School students. During her Crown to Classroom Tour, Miss Montana promoted a program called Own Your Movement, her social impact initiative focused on physical activity and working to advance shared ideas and beliefs.

Using narrative, videos, and lessons learned from her life as a professional dancer, pre-med student, marathon runner, triathlete, small business owner, and world traveler, Haller inspired Hi-Line children to get up and get moving so that they have the ability to follow their passions in life.

During her Own Your Movement presentation last Tuesday, Haller took her student audience to six countries on the map: Spain, Netherlands, Denmark, United Kingdom, France, and Russia. She described how flamenco is not only a physical movement but a genuine art form connected to Spain and taught students simple percussive footsteps and hand clapping rhythms representative of the dance. She also demonstrated the flower hand movement in flamenco dancing, a graceful hand, finger, and wrist gesture that represents a flower's opening and closing.


The movement associated with the Netherlands and Denmark, Haller explained, is bicycling. These two countries have large investments in bicycle infrastructure with dedicated cycling routes and favorable bicycle policy. Such features have elevated the two into becoming among the top bike-friendly places on Earth.

Most of the students were able to guess the movement connected to the United Kingdom as soccer, but only one readily named ballet as the movement linked to France and Russia. Haller informed her audience that ballet originated in France but that Russia transformed it into a technical art form. As she demonstrated, students imitated the Five Basic Positions of Ballet.


"You all enjoy some aspect of physical movement; you know about that kind of movement. But movement also refers to groups who work together to advance their shared ideas and beliefs," Haller said. "Being physically healthy is crucial to fulfilling your movement in life."

After leading the students in a discussion about community involvement-volunteering, involvement in the arts, starting a business, participation in community events-Haller explained the connection between doing what you enjoy and being physically active.


In addition to her advocacy work on the benefits of exercise and following one's passions, Haller will be working closely with the only Children's Miracle Network Hospital in Montana, Shodair Children's Hospital, during her year of service as Miss Montana. At Shodair, Haller not only teaches a dance class to patients but works in the genetics lab since her movement in life is to perform as a physician for women's health.

Born in Helena, Montana, Haller began her professional dancing career at the age of 18 in the Northwest as a classical ballet dancer. While dancing professionally full-time, she also attended Boise State University on an academic scholarship. She graduated with honors in 2016 with a Bachelor of Science Degree in Medical/Health Sciences and a minor in Dance.

After graduation, Haller spent the next year and a half as a professional dancer for Viking Ocean Cruises, where she had the opportunity to dance and travel to more than 20 counties and five continents.

In 2018, she competed for the position of Miss Montana and won the title. During Miss America competition, Haller also won both a talent and a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) scholarship. The first Miss Montana to ever receive the STEM scholarship, Haller has earned more than $15,000 in scholarships to further her medical education.

For interested young women, the Miss Montana Scholarship Program will be held June 20-22, 2019 in Glendive. Each Miss Montana contestant receives at least an $850 scholarship. Pageant scoring is based on four components: Private Interview (20%), Talent (50%), Evening Wear/Social Impact (15%), and On-Stage Question (15%). The Miss Montana's Outstanding Teen Competition is held at the same time. Each teen contestant receives at least a $150 scholarship.

The Miss Montana Scholarship Program is an affiliate of the Miss America Organization, one of the nation's leading achievement programs for young women. Miss America is the largest giver of scholarships to young women nationwide. More than $45 million worth of scholarship assistance is made available to more than 12,000 young women in any given year. The sister program, Miss America's Outstanding Teen promotes scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, healthy living, and community involvement for America's teens.

Anyone seeking additional information on becoming a contestant is encouraged to contact Executive Director, Jan Holden at holdenmissmt@gmail.com.

 
 

Powered by ROAR Online Publication Software from Lions Light Corporation
© Copyright 2024

Rendered 03/12/2024 13:44