Tag Archive | miss northwest

Open Hearts

‘And just like that.. we’re done until documentary time.’

That’s the text I sent to KETV photojournalist Ashley Nodgaard Monday night after watching the final chapter in our 3-part series Operation: Open Hearts. I gave you a little preview last month of our journey to La Paz, Mexico, where an Omaha medical team travels twice a year to save children’s lives, and to build a future for countless others.

Three beautiful girls, all born with congenital heart defects in a part of the world that offered them little hope. Three children, now forever connected through the hearts of people giving of their time and talents, at no charge, to give them the chance at life.

Since we returned to Omaha 3 weeks ago, Ashley and I have been working nonstop on these stories, hoping to bring YOU to La Paz to see and hear what we did firsthand.

CLICK HERE to learn WHY Omaha’s Dr. Jim Hammel takes an entire team to La Paz twice a year.

CLICK HERE as the team begins their 7th mission, and meet the tiny patients they hope to save.

CLICK HERE to go inside the OR, and watch Omaha doctors TEACH as they SAVE children.

And CLICK HERE to watch as DOZENS of the children, saved over the years, return to tell their heroes THANK YOU.

We take so many things for granted in life. In this particular case, that if our children are sick, they will be taken care of. In larger terms, that you have a baby, take that baby home, and live happily ever after.

An estimated 1% of ALL babies are born with a congenital heart defect.

Alex O’Connor was one of them.

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Photo courtesy Jenn Cady Photography

“When I was 5 months old I had a left Anomalous Coronary Artery repair,” Alex told me recently. “Everyone has three arteries in their heart and one of mine was connected wrong. Every time my heart would beat, I would have a mini heart attack.”

Alex also has a twin brother; Cam did not have heart problems. Doctors told the O’Connors that their baby girl had a 50% chance of making it through surgery.

“I have beat all the odds,” said Alex, now a 20-year old college student at the University of Wyoming. “I have no restrictions, I’m on no medications, I’m just as normal as can be. My message is to not only raise awareness about congenital heart defects, which is the number one birth defect in America, but to also teach people how to love their scars and to never be ashamed of them.”

Alex, a Keystone, Nebraska native, found a way to amplify her message.

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She was crowned Miss Fur Trade Days 2016, allowing her the opportunity to compete for the title of Miss Nebraska. This will be Alex’s second trip to North Platte, first competing as Miss Northwest in 2014.

“This program has made me grow in a lot of different ways,” said Alex. “It has allowed me to be the best version of myself that I can be.”

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Alex O’Connor is a young woman who loves dancing and dogs, she’s obsessed with flamingos and coffee, and she’s a proud sister who enjoys going to rodeos to watch Cam compete. She has also taken part in events across western Nebraska, from fairs to fundraisers to classroom visits.

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No matter where she’s at, children are the people who always seem to gravitate to Alex, and vice versa.

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These are the hearts Alex hopes to connect with, and to inspire with her message.

“My platform is Rock Your Scar: Congenital Heart Defect Awareness,” said Alex. “Everyone has a scar whether it is physical or emotional and we should never be ashamed of them. We should actually use them in a way to tell a story.”

Alex hopes to do that in every facet of her Miss Nebraska experience, even dedicating her talent performance to children facing the same battles she did.

courtesy Linda Teahon

Photo courtesy Linda Teahon

“My talent is a lyrical [dance] piece to ‘One Day You Will’ by Lady Antebellum,” said Alex. “The reason why I chose this song was because being a Congenital Heart Defect survivor I have gone through a lot, and this dance is a tribute to the kids that have gone or are going through what I went through. My message to them is one day you will make it through and you will realize that you are 1 in 100, and you should be proud to join the zipper club.”

PROOF…

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This is Regina, the second patient Omaha’s team operated on in their latest trip to La Paz. At 22-months, she had open heart surgery. Within 24 hours, she was walking, standing, smiling and coloring.

These kids are TOUGH. They are strong, and so are their families.. along with the passionate doctors, nurses and others who care for them. Ironically, in a club all about fixing hearts, these people are ALL heart.

Alex O’Connor is ready to share HER heart with our entire state and beyond.

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“Being Miss Nebraska is a privilege. It’s a job and the right person has to be ready for what the job entails,” said Alex. “I’m ready to use my talents, my knowledge and my courage to fulfill the job of Miss Nebraska.”

Stay tuned to KETV in June for our special report, Operation: Open Hearts

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CLICK HERE to follow Miss Fur Trade Days 2016 Alex O’Connor on Facebook.

WANT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT ALEX?

2014 * Survivor

For more information about the Miss Chadron/Miss Northwest/Miss Fur Trade Days Pageant, visit their FACEBOOK PAGE. For information on becoming a contestant, contact Directors Caitlin Rodiek and Sara Smith by email at misscnwdirectors@gmail.com. You can also contact Caitlin Rodiek by phone at 308-207-0336.

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The 2016 Miss Nebraska Scholarship Pageant takes place June 8-11 in North Platte, Nebraska. Learn more on THEIR WEBSITE, FACEBOOK PAGE, or follow ON TWITTER and ON INSTAGRAM.

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PREVIOUS.. Miss Alliance’s Outstanding Teen 2016 Cherokee Purviance!

NEXT.. Miss Scotts Bluff County’s Outstanding Teen 2016 Carsyn Long!

To read more about this year’s contestants, or the Miss Nebraska/Miss Nebraska’s OT classes of 2015 & 2014, click the THERE SHE IS link at the top of the page!

Chasing Destiny

May11

When recently asked what his mommy does for her job, my son Easton said ‘my mommy tells the news at the train station.’

YES. Yes I do.

We are now marking our 8th month in our new home at 7 Burlington Station. This place just RESONATES history. The floor tiles are the original pieces that travelers walked on when the station opened in 1898. We have our afternoon story meetings just yards from the same tracks where trains carried countless passengers arriving in Omaha. Everything from the walls, to the ceiling, to the clock upstairs.. all original and restored.

CLICK HERE to watch Rob McCartney’s Murrow Award winning documentary: The Rebirth of Burlington Station

Certainly not the original architects, perhaps not even those who followed decades later, envisioned that this beautiful building would someday be home to one of the country’s state of the art television facilities. However, the Burlington is still a hub. This is still a place our city turns to to connect to the outside world. Let’s call it FATE. Some things were just meant to be.

Case in point.. Chadron’s Aubree Noble, perhaps fulfilling a destiny always meant for her.

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Photo courtesy Jenn Cady Photograpy

“I’ve pretty much been a part of [the Miss America system] my entire life,” Aubree told me recently. “My mom was the Miss Chadron/Miss Northwest Director along with Marleta Hastings. Every year, I helped with the pageant, even if it was just small parts of it. I loved watching the girls advance on to the state and national pageants.”

And Aubree, like so many other titleholders, watched in awe as Miss Nebraska became Miss America in 2010.

“My biggest role model was Teresa Scanlan,” said Aubree. “It amazed me when she became Miss America. Her impact she made on the world during her year of service inspired me to get involved in pageants.”

When Aubree was old enough, her mother stepped down from her position as a local pageant director to allow her daughter to compete to become one of Miss Nebraska’s Outstanding Teens. Still, Aubree need one more person’s approval to seal the deal.

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“Miss Fur Trade Days Outstanding Teen Brooklyn Stack and I have been best friends since pre-school,” said Aubree, now Miss Dawes County’s Outstanding Teen. “We also said that we would do pageants together and be what people call ‘sister queens’. Well, we may not have won the same pageant, but we have been doing events alongside each other all year!”

And with every event, from Chadron to North Platte and beyond, Aubree has made even more connections she describes as life-long friendships.

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“Some of my fellow titleholders and I talk daily. We’ve bonded,” said Aubree. “I love this system because even though we are competitors we are still friends and supportive of each other in every aspect of each other’s lives.”

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Aubree is using her year as Miss Dawes County to spread awareness of her personal platform, ‘Read to Succeed!’, based on her own development with reading and the impact it’s had on her life.

“Studies show that kids who read more often tend to do better on tests,” said Aubree. “Also, they tend to score higher on their ACT. I never scored as high as my classmates on the state reading tests, but when I made it my goal to improve my reading, things changed. My scores improved and reading then became one of my best subjects in state testing. Last summer alone, I read 19 books! My favorite thing in the world is escaping to another world through a book. My goal through my platform was to make kids excited about wanting to read.”

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Aubree is also a passionate dancer with 13 years of training. She’s completing her second year on the Chadron High Dance Team, a squad that placed 7th at state in 2016. The sophomore is also involved with math club, speech, student council, she’s a class officer, and she golfs, shooting a hole-in-one at a meet this year. Outside of school, Aubree plays piano and volunteers at the Chadron chamber of Commerce. She credits her family for their constant support in all of her activities, bonds strengthened in tragedy when Aubree’s father died a few years ago.

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“My family is most important to me in my life,” said Aubree. “They are my biggest supporters and my favorite ‘fans’ in everything I do from school functions to pageants. I wouldn’t be able to do anything without them.”

They’ll have a busy summer; Aubree, on the Leadership Team for Future Business Leaders of America, recently finished first at state in Website Design, beating out 43 other submissions. She’ll compete at nationals this June.. AFTER she competes for the title of Miss Nebraska’s Outstanding Teen.

‘I don’t know if we each have a destiny, or if we’re all just floating around accidental-like on a breeze, but I, I think maybe it’s both. Maybe both is happening at the same time.’ — Forrest Gump

Maybe this title is Aubree Noble’s fate, a breeze that’s swirled around her for most of her life. But this young woman has worked hard to achieve her successes. She has persevered despite hardship. She’s using her ‘destiny’ to her full advantage, and appreciating every step of the journey.

“I have benefitted from this program because of the confidence it has given me,” said Aubree. “It’s a great way to build self esteem! Even after competing in one pageant, you’re a new person. You learn something new about yourself each time you compete.”

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Maybe.. that the road you’re walking is the exact place you’re meant to be.

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CLICK EACH LINK to follow Miss Dawes County’s Outstanding Teen 2016 Aubree Noble

on Facebook and on Instagram. You can also email Aubree for appearances and events at noble.aubree@gmail.com.

For more information on becoming a Miss Nebraska’s Outstanding Teen contestant, contact Director Heather Edwards at heatheraloseke@gmail.com or Director Kali Tripp at kalinicoletv@gmail.com.

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The 2016 Miss Nebraska’s Outstanding Teen Pageant takes place June 10 in North Platte, Nebraska. Learn more on THEIR WEBSITE, FACEBOOK PAGE, or follow ON TWITTER and ON INSTAGRAM.

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PREVIOUS.. Miss Scotts Bluff County 2016 Allison Baird!

NEXT.. Miss Kearney 2016 Stacy Pospisil!

To read more about this year’s contestants, or the Miss Nebraska/Miss Nebraska’s OT classes of 2015 & 2014, click the THERE SHE IS link at the top of the page!

Sleepless Beauty

Apr27

As a young professional, I counted down minutes until the weekend. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job and did back then, too, but reporting is a stressful, non-stop business! Aaaah, the anticipation of sleeping in, lounging around doing nothing, taking naps, and then meeting up with friends at night. My mid 20’s weekends were just LAZY.. and it was great. The moment you have a child, that all changes. Your weekends are still great, but being lazy is NEVER an option. You are up when your kiddos are, you are lucky to get a bathroom break alone, and despite what feels like around-the-clock cleaning, your house often looks like a burglar ransacked the place and split.

I remember one moment in our newsroom after my first son was born and one of my in-his-20’s coworkers said “I just can’t WAIT for my weekend–I’m SOOOOO tired!” Truly, I think my head slowly rotated on my neck exorcist-style and I said, “dude. You don’t KNOW tired.” I don’t envy my former self–I would NEVER trade this time with my little boys–but I kinda want to shake that pre-2011-Brandi and say ‘get off the couch!! Look how much free time you have! Go for a run! Volunteer! You could have redecorated your entire house, woman!’

All of this makes me that much more impressed with young ladies like the Miss Nebraska contestant you’re about to meet.

MISS NORTHWEST 2015 LARISSA MCKEAN

(Photo courtesy Jenn Cady Photography)

“I am a full time student and I currently have three jobs,” LaRissa told me recently. “For a woman who loves to sleep, I don’t get much of it! I am up most mornings at 6:30 and go to bed around 2 every night.”

And LaRissa’s college major is a tough one; she’ll graduate in just weeks from the University of Kansas with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting, specializing in Public Relations. She’s already put those studies to use, involved in the Finance Club and serving as the VP of Finance for the Theta Omega chapter of Delta Delta Delta, in addition to work on the Standards Committee, as Recruitment Chair, and as a Rock Chalk Revue Director.

LaRissa is also extremely active in dance, both for work and pleasure. She’s part of the pre-professional dance company Art in Motion (AIM), teaches at a dance studio in Lawrence, Kansas, and is a dance instructor for Universal Dance Association. All of this no doubt requires talent, dedication, and TIME, by my count, practice or instruction nearly every day of LaRissa’s week. She notes she usually travels once a month for dance competitions, including a trip to New York City to chaperone 17 high school seniors performing in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

“I have been dancing since the age of three and started competing at four,” said LaRissa. “Performing on stage is second nature to me. The thrill of throwing every trick you wan to showcase in 90 seconds while smiling and being a source of entertainment is amazing! I love being able to share my passion with others and putting all my hard work into an adrenaline filled routine!”

LaRissa says the Miss Nebraska pageant was a natural step for her to take to combine everything she cared about: talent, communication and education.

Miss Northwest 2015 LaRissa McKean with Miss Northwest’s Outstanding Teen 2015 Cherokee Purviance, and LaRissa with Miss Chadron Tosha Skinner and Miss Nebraska 2014 Megan Swanson

“I have known many contestants throughout the years and supported many at events, but I didn’t decide to compete until I saw what an impact pageants [could] have on my life,” said LaRissa. “Every woman I’ve known in the Miss America Organization system has been driven to succeed and a huge role model to me. Contestants have the opportunity to grow intellectually while being a leader in their community! I love being able to impact others and make a difference in my state like the role models did when I was a little girl.”

Being Miss Northwest has also given LaRissa another opportunity to promote a cause she’s already connected to, support for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital.

“St. Jude provides care and treatment for children at no cost to their families,” said LaRissa, who visited the hospital in March. “They also have top researchers [working to find] cures for cancer every day!”

St. Jude is also LaRissa’s chapter sorority’s philanthropy; she’s volunteered around the KU campus raising funds for St. Jude. Now, on a more personal level, LaRissa sends letters to friends and family asking for St. Jude donations, she encourages dance teams to write support letters to St. Jude families, and she speaks to groups about St. Jude’s mission.

“I was asked to emcee the Miss Alliance’s Outstanding Teen pageant and was able to share my platform with the audience,” said LaRissa. “It as a pleasure to share what I have been doing and how MAO has helped me pursue my passion in saving children who are suffering from cancer or diseases.”

Could LaRissa McKean be any busier?!? And she’s not getting a break anytime soon. Next on her list: Jayhawk graduation, moving back to Omaha (where this proud Millard South graduate was born and raised!), and making final preparations to compete for the title of Miss Nebraska.

Robert Frost once wrote: “The woods are lovely, dark and deep. But I have promises to keep, and miles to go before I sleep.” LaRissa McKean is dancing her way through this journey, and never, it seems, taking a break to rest.

“I am happy to say I do what I love and it never feels like a day of work,” said LaRissa. “All of these jobs and commitments makes sleep at the bottom of my to-do list.”

THAT is marathon mentality, and the finish line, the Miss Nebraska pageant, is in Miss Northwest’s sights.

(Photo courtesy Mindy Armstrong Photography)

Follow Miss Northwest 2015 LaRissa McKean

on Facebook and on Instagram.

To contact LaRissa for appearances and events email larissamckean@gmail.com.

For more information about the Miss Northwest pageant, click here to visit their Facebook page.

For information on becoming a future contestant, contact Director Marleta Hastings at 308-432-3847 or Director Renae Noble at 308-432-5129. You can also email misscnwdirectors@gmail.com.

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The Miss Nebraska Pageant will take place June 3-6, 2015 in North Platte. Click here to visit the organization’s website, to visit the pageant on Facebook, to follow the pageant on Twitter, and to follow the pageant on Instagram.

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PREVIOUS.. **SPECIAL FEATURE** Miss Iowa 2014 Aly Olson

NEXT.. Miss Platte Valley’s Outstanding Teen 2015 Emma Kate Brown

To read more about the Miss Nebraska Class of 2014, click on the ‘There She Is’ link at the top of the page.

Survivor

May9

At 5 months of age, many babies are making their first attempts at real speech. They are gearing up to start crawling, maybe learning how to sit on their own. A baby’s grasp gets stronger and they start trying to grab things on their own.

At just 5 months old, this young lady was grasping for survival.

Miss Northwest, Alex O’Connor

(Photo courtesy of Impact Images Studio)

“I had heart surgery to repair a left anomalous coronary. It’s a congenital defect,” Alex told me earlier this week. “I was in the ICU for two months at Denver Children’s Hospital.”

A quick search of the condition reveals some alarming phrases. Very rare… sudden death as a complication.. heart attack in the baby.

In this case, a miracle. Alex has grown into a beautiful young woman competing for Miss Nebraska as Miss Northwest. She’s also using her title to share her story.

“My platform is ‘Be Heart Healthy’ because I am a heart survivor,” said Alex. “My mission is to spread the word about how to have a healthy heart.”

Alex with Miss Chadron 2013 Meghan Thalken

Alex says that passion is one of the reasons people should care about the Miss Nebraska organization.

“It is not just a pageant,” said Alex. “All the girls in this organization are truly wonderful and all we ever want is to make a positive difference in someone’s life.”

Participating has also had an impact on Alex. A senior at Paxton High School, she previously competed in Miss Nebraska’s Outstanding Teen.

“Being in this system I have learned lifelong lessons that I will never forget,” said Alex. “Just overall, I’m more confident and mature for my age.”

Alex says she loves performing in front of an audience, but her favorite part of Miss Nebraska is the Evening Gown portion.

“I love to dress up. I mean, who doesn’t?” said Alex. “I love showing who I am by being confident and graceful.”

As for Lifestyle and Fitness, or swimsuit, Alex says she sees both sides of the controversy, but believes it is a necessary aspect of the competition.

“We are competing for Miss Nebraska, maybe even Miss America, and the lucky lady who gets it needs to be in good shape so she can be ready for anything,” said Alex.

It is truly amazing how life can change and come full circle. From a baby with a sick heart, to a young woman with a heart of gold.

“I want to be Miss Nebraska because it has always been a dream for me since I was little,” said Alex. “For me, it’s not all about getting the crown, for me, it’s knowing that I have the chance to make a difference in someone’s life.”