Hello! My name is Melanie Drews and I am Miss North Central Ohio's Outstanding teen 2012! Im so excited to have this year to advocate for my platform "WINGS". Please take a moment to look at my platform statement! Enjoy :)
Empowering today’s
young women.
First they
came
-First they came for the communists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a communist.
Then they came for the trade unionists,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews,
and I didn't speak out because I wasn't a Jew.
Then they came for me
And
there was no one left to speak out for me..
“First they came...” is a famous
statement attributed to Pastor Martin Niemoller about the inactivity of German
intellectuals following the Nazi rise to power and the purging of their chosen
targets, group after group. Just like bullying, who will stick up for what is
right? Where is the good in people and in humanity? I challenge others to open
their heart and be the person to make a change. Growing up in a small town,
there are a lot of pressures to fit in since everyone knows everyone closely. I
believe that young girls in surrounding cities can benefit from this group and
gain a sense of security. My platform Wings addresses several topics that helps
empower women for a healthier high school career.
When I started my platform I based
my group on a book written by a well-known author, Regina Brett, and the quote
“First they came”. Without her book “God
Never Blinks”, about the 50 lessons life taught her, I wouldn’t have had
the wisdom to give to others willing to listen. After each weekly meeting I
would read them one lesson and challenge them to find the good in the week that
was ahead of them. There is something in everyone that can relate to the hidden
truth about life. Week to week, I saw three young ladies turn from freshman who
felt lost and wanted to fit in, into women who knew the path they wanted to
follow. They began to give back to their communities. I’m proud to say that my
group will now be starting an after-school torturing program at our local
middle school.
When my father was diagnosed with cancer in
2005, I lost just about every sense of security and trust I had. Although most
of these girls do not have to be faced with that kind of hardship, every family
has hard times. When they come into this group, I want them to gain a sense of
trust and compassion. I want to teach them that no matter what anyone says you
are beautiful just the way God made you! No appearance is perfect, no person is
perfect, but beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.
I
hope to one day be an inspiration to girls across the country and have the
Wings group in all high schools around the world. Launching a state wide school
tour to speak with school officials and board members to present Wings in hopes
of starting an after school program in every community. I would also facilitate
assemblies with power points to show young girls to expand their horizons. We
are the youth of the nation, I am tomorrow’s dreamer, and I want to make that
dream a reality. I encourage everyone to get out and help with their
communities. I believe that if everyone helps, it would make our world a much
stronger place. Wings would be nothing without the support of the faculty at my
high school and a local group called Kiwanis. Looking to pair with Girls.inc a
group that focuses on positive influences through today’s young female youth. Everyone
deserves to have a positive high school career and to enjoy being young while
they can because, tomorrow is not promised and today is all we have.
My
favorite lesson that I have learned and shared with the young women in my group
was lesson number fifty; “Life isn't tied with a
bow, but it's still a gift…” This
is my gift to you and the rest of Ohio, a group with passion a heart with care
and a mind full of possibilities to get out and help others.
