The blog post below was written by Queen Amelia in late February. Due to technical difficulties, it is just now being posted. Thank you for following Queen Amelia on her journey!

I cannot believe it has been a whole month since I was crowned Miss Illinois County Fair! The time has absolutely flown!

I’m not sure how many times I have said that this is a dream come true, but it truly is a dream come true for me. I still wake up some mornings, barely believing that it happened. I cannot put into words how honored and thrilled I am to represent county fairs and agriculture this year. I am so excited to begin traveling the state this summer, that I have a countdown going!

A little bit about me—I was Miss Rock Island County Fair 2012. I grew up on my family’s farm in Orion and was very active in 4-H and FFA. It was through 4-H that I discovered my love for communicating in my bucket calf project. I loved the thrill of getting up in front of people to answer questions about my calf on the microphone. In FFA, I competed in many contests; my favorites included parliamentary procedure, agricultural issues, agricultural communications, public speaking, and job interview. I served as a chapter and section officer, and attended numerous leadership conferences. Through FFA, I discovered my major, agricultural communications. It was through my supervised agricultural experience program of writing for local newspapers that I realized educating the public about agriculture was something I wanted to do full time.

Which leads me to the present…I’m currently studying agricultural communications at the University of Illinois and will graduate this spring, after three years of study. I will begin work for John Deere in September as a marketing representative in their Construction and Forestry division.

In the meantime, I will be fulfilling my duties as Miss Illinois County Fair, and am so excited! Did I say that already? My apologies, but I really am excited!

During my first month as Miss Illinois County Fair, I have had a few radio interviews, as well as some interviews for agricultural publications and newspapers at home and in my county. In early February, I attended the State Fair Press Conference and addressed the press and all of the guests at the event. It was my first official appearance and everyone made me feel very welcome. I was happy to meet so many of the people I will be working with this summer. And there was fair food, too! Mini corndogs and fried brownies make for an interesting breakfast at 8 a.m. I can’t say that I’ve ever had fried brownies before, but if you ever get the chance to try them, go for it!

I’m gearing up for Ag Legislative Day which is coming up in a few weeks. My speech is written for the Senate, and I am ready to go. I’m looking forward to seeing all of the FFA members at the event. I attended for three years in high school as an FFA member, so it will be great to go back and reminisce with members and advisors. I can’t wait to meet many of our state legislators and talk to them about the importance of agricultural funding and the role that agricultural youth programs play.

It has been an exciting first month as queen, and I’m very humbled to represent the state as Miss Illinois County Fair this year. I’m so thankful for all of the help my family, the Rock Island County Fair Board, my pageant director Shauna Learn, Taylor Schulte, Cait Robb, and all my friends have provided. I am excited to get to know the state pageant crew better in the coming months. Please stay tuned for updates to my blog!