I was lucky enough to be invited to be a celebrity judge at the Miss-ter James M. Hill Memorial High School Pageant. This annual (Mister) Pageant encourages male Grade 12 JMH students to dress up as ladies for a night of fun, laughter, and most importantly to raise money for the charity SOPAR. SOPARr is a Canadian charity that supports families in India, and promotes Canadians to actively participate in the development of other countries.

When I arrived at the Pageant after a long drive, I was quite nervous because although I have participated in pageants, I have never judged one. Also, I didn't know anybody at this school, or who I was looking for. I was very relieved when students opened the door for me, warmly greeted me and brought me to a room with fresh fruit & vegetables and drinks. They made me feel right at home, and spoiled me very much.

Next, I met the other two judges: One was a retired JMH teacher, and the other a current teacher at the school. They told me tidbits of information about each boy before the private interview so that I knew what I was looking for. Everyone was very helpful.

At first I didn't know how serious the pageant was going to be, but as soon as boys started coming into their private interview fully decked out in Lady Gaga, Cher, and Britney Spears costumes, and began speaking in a cracky high voice, I realized it was all for jokes and couldn't help but giggle. I had to ask them a series of funny questions such as "Who is your favorite designer?." I was surprised when many of the guys knew the names of "Dolche & Gabbana" and "Louis Vuitton"! Other guys just smiled, shrugged and said "Tommy Hilfiger" or "Abercrombie & Fitch".

After the private interview, the judges were lead to a large auditiorium, which one of the other judges informed me had been newly renovated. It looked really great, with large speakers, strobe lights and a huge projector screen. We then judged the boys as they did a group dance, introduced themselves, did an evening gown walk, and even a talent portion! It was honestly one of the funniest things I have ever witnessed. I was surprised that many of the guys showcased their real talents, such as singing, playing guitar, or dancing!

The audience was extremely responsive and the host of the evening, a teacher at the school, was really cool and witty. The auditorium was entirely full and everyone had a blast.

In the end, we tallied up the points and I went on stage and crowned Miss-ter JMH, Samuel Crowell, who was dressed as Lady Gaga. First runner-up and Second runner-up were also announced. Since it was all for fun and games, there were only smiles and cheering, no disappointments for those who didn't win. It was a really inspiring atmosphere to be around.

In total, I believe they raised over $3000 in one night for SOPAR, which was the highlight of the night. The crowd went wild and everyone was deservingly proud of themselves.

I was then surprised with a bouquet of pink sparkly flowers, which was about the prettiest thing I have ever seen!

Unfortunately these pictures were taken with my camera on the wrong setting :(

It was a great experience and I'm so honoured to have been a part of it!

Free The Children, a charity founded in Toronto, Canada by Craig Kielburger, is the largest organization of children helping children in the world. Their mission is to "free the children" from poverty and exploitation in under-developped countries, and provide them with alternate forms of income, health care, clean water, sanitation and education.

Though Free The Children was only founded 15 years ago, they already have active development programs in 45 countries, some of which are Ecuador, India, China and Kenya. This Canadian charity has adopted countless villages and built more than 500 schools which provide education for 55 000 children around the world. Now that the children are at school rather than working, Free The Children has additionally provided 23 500 families with alternate sources of income. Furthermore, 60 000 people have been given free health care.

However, without the help of over sixty partners, Free The Children would not be the success story that they are today. Donations and volunteers from all over the world help make this charity's goals a reality. These companies/organizations know that when they help Free The Children, both parties are benefited. Some of their major partners include: Oprah's Angel Network, Me to We, Google, Miss Teen Canada-World and CTV, which is the company I have chosen to discuss.

CTV, the Canadian Television Network, is Canada's largest Private Broadcaster. The Network puts an emphasis on helping the global-community at large, and working with Free The Children is one of the ways that they have committed to this task. By broadcasting commercials and infomercials pertaining to Free The Children, CTV helps spread awareness about the children in need around the world, and informs Canadian citizens about how they can make a difference in other countries. This TV/Internet Broadcasting not only benefits Free The Children, but it also allows CTV to be seen as a humanitarian network, which is a highly honorable trait in this day and age. People recognize the importance of helping families who are less fortunate than most, and therefore they will support and continue to watch CTV. Not only does the entire company benefit from being a partner, but every individual who works there may feel the satisfaction of helping children in need.

We Day, a day created by Free The Children, is an annual event where students accross Canada get together and celebrate their ability to make a change in the world. CTV is the official producer of We Day and takes footage of the event every year. On April 15th, 2010 CTV and Free The Children announced their extended partnership, which will see that CTV broadcasts a prime-time special every We Day for the next three years, as they have for the last four years, since We Day began.

These partners are very grateful for eachother, and prove to make a very successful partnership:

Susanne Boyce, President of Creative Content & Channels at CTV Inc, says "It is our honour to share with all of Canada the spirit, energy and commitment that Free The Children inspires during We Day and every other day. Craig and Marc are visionaries who continue to transform lives in Canada and around the world."

From the other end, Craig Kielburger, founder of Free The Children, is appreciative of CTV's helpfulness as well, he says "With CTV's continued commitment and support, we will empower this generation of youth to lead this building movement of change."

There are still so many children who need our help, and you could make a difference just like so many have before you. With a great charity like Free The Children, you can be sure that 91 cents of every dollar you donate will go directly to the children. So why not help today? Visit Free The Children to donate!

TWELVE INCREDIBLE MUSICIANS

FORM 2 BANDS

COMPOSING MUSIC

COMPETING AGAINST EACH OTHER

IN THE HOPES

THAT THEY WONT BE THE ONES WHO ARE

KICKED

OFF THE CHARTS

Coming this fall, is a reality show of undiscovered talent, teenaged turmoil, live music and merciless judging: A journey for musicians to find out which members of their band are the most valuable, and who among them are hurting the band rather than helping.

Every week, the bands must each compose an original song, and then perform it in front of a live audience, who will then vote for "the song of the week" with the help of the 3 judges. "The song of the week" will be featured on Faze Media's Teen Website until the following episode. The band that created the winning song will be safe from eliminations for that week.

The remaining band, however, must then choose two of their band members, who they believe are harming the band's performance and send them to vie against eachother, as one of them will be kicked OFF THE CHARTS.

The two chosen band members will participate in a challenge called "Mozart Moments" where they will get the chance to show how musically educated they really are. Some of the challenges might include: Sight reading a musical piece, answering music history trivia questions, or playing a thirty second solo on the instrument of their choice. The winner of this challenge will return to their band, while the loser will be officially OFF THE CHARTS.

As the weeks go by, the bands will become smaller and smaller, making it even more difficult to compose a winning song. This is where the Platinum, Gold and Silver Albums come in: When a band is feeling weary about their place in the competition, they may use one of these three irreplaceable albums at the start of any given week. The Silver Album allows the band to cover any band's song at the live performance for that week, instead of having to compose one themselves. The Gold Album allows the band to swap a band member with the opposing band, and the Platinum Album allows you to bring back a band member from either band who has already been eliminated. Both bands can use their three albums only once, but if "played" at the right time in the game, it could change the competition's route completely.

Once an entire band has been eliminated, the remaining band will be declared the winners!

Prizes will include:

Professional recording sessions to record all of the band's winning "Song of the week" songs

The band's photo as the cover of Faze Magazine, along with a full feature article (February 2011 issue)

Free internet marketing by SmoJoe for their new album

A 10-City concert tour across Canada

Host, Michelle Thibodeau, will bring viewers backstage to watch sneak previews of the new songs at band rehearsals, and interview these musical prodigies about their lives as a musician and about the drama that goes on behind the scenes of the seemingly-put-together bands. As a singer-songwriter, Michelle will also be a judge in this competition. She has studied and competed in Classical music for 7 years, and is eager to offer advice to these fellow young musicians.

Another permanent judge will be Choreographer extraordinare and owner of DLM Studio & Entertainment, Shawn Cuffie. Having appeared in various types of media, as well as choreographing for today's hottest performers, Shawn knows exactly what it takes to become a star!

The third judge will be a guest, who is subject to change each weekly episode. Afterall, it is always good to have a fresh opinion to keep the show unpredictable!

STAY TUNED FOR A MUSICAL JOURNEY THAT WILL BE

OFF THE CHARTS!

July 1st is such a special day in New Brunswick; There are concerts, barbeques, parties, games and fireworks everywhere you turn, and everyone is decked out in red & white and sporting the maple leaf either on their hat, car, tattoo or face paint! This year on Canada Day I made a couple appearances as Miss Teen New Brunswick at the children's fun zones in both Moncton and Riverview. The set ups were fantastic! All the kids were having such a great time and it was a pleasure to see them all having so much fun!

In Moncton, there were a whole row of inflatable games for the kids to play on, and a giant circular food court with everything yummy to eat like the BEST smelling sausages, kettle corn, cotton candy, hamburgers, snowcones and much more. They also had a concert site set up for incredible musicians including Natalie MacMaster and husband, Donnell Leahy! 

Here are a couple pictures that I took in Moncton:

I was so excited to see my great friend Britney and her family! In the background you can see people getting a good seat for the musical entertainment, they came really early!

I met this man and his son at the Moncton Events, they were so friendly! This gentleman was celebrating his 90th Canada Day, wow!

Next, I attended the Riverview Sunfest Canada Day Activities, which was a huge event! There must have been over a thousand people there! I got to watch the musical guests, eat popsicles and talk to so many patriotic people, I had a blast! They had a giant field of games for the children and at every game there was a line up of at least one hundred kids who were laughing, playing and celebrating. As I greeted the people a lot of them congratulated me on winning the title and wished me good luck at Miss Teen Canada coming up this weekend!

This young lady ran up to me and gave me the sweetest compliments! She told me her name is Danielle :)

This is my friend MacKenzie and me, we know eachother from singing :)

This is just one section of the games! I'm in there somewhere mingling haha.

Here are some pictures of the fireworks that I enjoyed that evening with my bestfriend, Julia. The fireworks are an annual event for the Greater Moncton area.

About a week ago, I was interviewed by the Moncton Times & Transcript. I am really excited that the article recognizes me both as Miss Teen New Brunswick and a musician!

Miss Teen NEW BRUNSWICK!

I have lived in Moncton, New Brunswick for 17 years (AKA my whole life), and I wouldn't have it any other way. If I chose three words to describe my province, I would say: **Beautiful  **Welcoming  **Cultured

Here are some amazing facts about New Brunswick:

*It is Canada's ONLY officially bilingual Province (French & English)

*New Brunswick's motto is "Hope was restored"

*We have a rising population of 751,068 people.

*Saint John, Fredericton and Moncton are its' major cities

*Most habitants are of the origin French, British, Scottish and Irish, however we have MANY different cultures! (I am French, English, Scottish AND Irish!)

*More than 50% of New Brunswick is surrounded by water! That means beaches, beaches, beaches! The Northumberland Strait, where I go to the beach, has the WARMEST ocean water in Canada! Sometimes it reaches 25 degrees! We also have the highest, wildest tides in the WORLD!

*85% of NB is covered with forests, which means there are beautiful trees everywhere! Even my backyard is a forest (and, I live in the city!)

*The agriculture and fishing industries here are tremendous! You can catch more than fifty kinds of fish.

*McCain Foods was established here in 1957. They are now the largest french fry/frozen food producers in the WORLD!

*You can go whale watching! There are 15 different species of whales!

*We are known for our bridges: We have the world's longest covered bridge, called the Hartland Bridge. (I went on it for the first time this month!) Also, we have the world's longest bridge that covers ice-water (The Confederation Bridge connects NB to PEI) We have 62 remaining covered bridges!

*Magnetic Hill, in Moncton, is an optical illusion where your car coasts UPHILL by itself! It's just a couple minutes from my house.

* The inventor of the ice cream cone was from NB

*Ganongs Chocolate Factory is in New Brunswick. Arthur Ganong made the world's first chocolate bar!

*The Saint John River has a Reversing Falls, that flows upstream twice a day

*We have A LOT of snow in the winter, with the best snow conditions in the Maritimes. This is probably why the Snow Blower was invented here

*We have a population of 25000 moose

Here are some pictures that I took!

The picture above is one I took of Magic Mountain, the local water park! I worked there for two summers and it was really fun!

This is the new "Casino New Brunswick" This summer, special guests such as Regis Philbin, members of Supertramp, Paul Anka and The Beach Boys are all going to perfom there.

This is the Magnetic Hill Concert Site, it might not look like much right now, but it has hosted concerts for bands such as The Eagles, AC/DC, Bon Jovi, Tim McGraw&Faith Hill, and the biggest concert, The Rolling Stones, which had over 85000 people attending!

The picture below is what the site looks like while its packed, and that's just a section of the audience!

There are always many boats at the wharf!

This is the popular Petitcodiac River Causeway. It is a bridge that has a gate under it, and for many many years the gate was closed, so that the water couldn't flow under it, however, they recently opened it! This is the newly restored river.

And last but certainly not least, THE BEACH! This is Parlee Beach, my favorite place to be!. It is the busiest of all the beaches in New Brunswick.

So I hope everyone has learned what I like best about New Brunswick. I basically covered the Greater Moncton Area so there is definitely a lot more to see if you ever plan on visiting!

Until next time,

Michelle :)