Firstly, I would like to say congratulations, to the current Miss Wagga Wagga, Stina Constantine and Community Princess, Presslea Cowan, for their wonderful contribution to the quest and community so far. These two incredible women have been nothing short of an inspiration to me and my fellow MWWQ 2020 entrants.

My name is Brittany Hackett and I have been a Wagga Wagga girl my whole life. After suffering anxiety and a range of mental health issues for a majority of my life, this is something that I would never have thought twice about being involved in let alone entering – until the day a colleague approached me and asked me if I would take the leap and that was exactly what I did.

In April, all seven entrants were confirmed and got together to meet for a range of personal development sessions. This included, dining etiquette hosted by the wonderful Jamie Shepley, the head chef at The Roundabout Restaurant, who have also come onboard as a Quest sponsor. We all enjoyed a fantastic four course meal, and some really fantastic tips and tricks on how to present ourselves properly at the dinner table.

We were also blessed with Rick Storrier who taught us everything we needed to know about public speaking and speech writing, this was to have us prepared for the 5 minute speech we each had to write and present at our up-coming launch night.

Following this session, we had Casey Wilson from House on the Hill Marketing coach us on how to organise events and we are very grateful that we have Casey Wilson’s knowledge to bounce off for the duration of this quest.

We were then lucky enough to head to the 2AAA FM radio station and were met with a very warm welcome by the lovely, Alan Lean and Marguerite Smith for some much appreciated radio and media training. This was daunting at first, though Alan and Marguerite made it seem easy and fun!

Next on the list was a “dress appropriate” session, held at Ted & Olive boutique. Unfortunately I was out of town for this session and missed out; though I know the rest of the entrants had a superb evening with MWWQ Chair Alex and our Mayoress Jenny Conkey. 

Lastly, two nights before our launch night, we had a beauty and hair session. This was held at Lulu & Kit in Fitzmaurice Street. We received a wonderful “up-do style” hair session from the ladies at Lulu & Kit as well as a make-up session from Frances Conroy makeup artistry.

Now we were ready for our first public address – The Launch night, 8th of May 2019.
I am sure I am not just speaking for myself when I say, the moment I stepped in that room, ahead of all of the guests, I was ready to run away and never come back!

To my fellow entrants, Erica, Montanna, Hannah, Hayley, Tegan and Margie, I cannot wait to see what these next few months have in store for us. How special it is to be given this opportunity and to have met you all.
​
- Brittany Hackett
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant

We are getting close to the end of this year’s Quest – September is over already. My name is Bonnie, and, as you must surely know by now, I am one of the entrants of this year’s Quest. Before I do what I do best, and rant about myself for a few paragraphs, I will tell you all about the entrants’ adventures this month (in fact, we actually did heaps this month, so I don’t even think I’ll find the space to tell you about all my hopes and dreams in life.. next time):
First up, we had the high tea. The high tea was our second official Miss Wagga event, and it was also a sellout! That isn’t surprising, however, as not only did we have six different flavours of tea, we also had both Carly Salmon and Catherine McComack speaking at the event. The day was not only joyful and inspiring, it was also empowering, and displayed some of the wonderful achievements people are capable of. There was also waaaay too much cake, which is always a bonus.
A week later, and two of the entrants were helping to emcee the Wagga Eisteddfod. This was relatively easy, well organized, and allowed the entrants to achieve their annual dose of choirs singing – and it’s not even Christmas yet! In all seriousness though, it was astounding to witness some of the local talent that the majority of Wagga residents would be unaware is living and developing around them. Hats off to all of the performers, the crew that ensured that the event was so well organized, and the judge.
Moving on to a couple of weeks later, and the entrants were lucky enough to host a “BBQ in the park” at Kapooka. The BBQ bit consisted of all of the things that you would expect a BBQ to consist of, along with the assistance of some AMAZING recruits who decided to come down and help us out! We had sausages, we had steakettes, we had bread, we even had a few vegan sausages available for me. We also had the ‘play-on-wheels’ to entertain all of the young children, the horsies because everyone loves a horse in uniform, and the Kapooka Army Band to entertain all of the BBQ goers (especially me, I LOVED it!). Now I have said this to quite a few people already, but the fact that they were in casual clothes and walking around created the best atmosphere! If I wasn’t walking around aimlessly with a bucket, I would have been asleep for sure. So relaxing – loved it.
Towards the end of the month, we stopped by our final un-visited beneficiary – Ronald McDonald House. Now the halt on this was not because we just didn’t feel like going there, but they were underway with some renovations and so we would not have been able to properly see the place. It was well worth the wait though, and I personally felt honored to know that the Quest is doing all it can to help raise funds for this extremely deserving cause. You know what they say, when life gives you lemons... well that place is a lemonade factory. 
Finally, to round off the month, on the last day of September, five of the entrants helped out with the road marshaling for Gears-n-Beers. Awkwardly, it would appear that all entrants, along with some others, had worn the same vest to the event. But what can I say, I always have liked to stand out in the crowed, I just wasn’t prepared for so many others wanting to do the same. I guess the entrants will have to work on their outfit communication skills in future.
So now I will tell you about my hopes and dreams, as a female resident of this town, an avid coffee drinker, someone who didn’t get their license until they were 21, and a proudly born 90s kid. No, no, I won’t really. I’ll save that for my crowning speech :P
I will tell you, however, that tickets are currently on sale for our final event, the MWWQ Bingo, and that you can access the ticket purchasing site through misswaggaquest.com (the website you’re reading right now). And I will leave you with this: don’t be afraid to stand for what you believe in. 
 Bonnie XX

Welcome to the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant’s Blog for August 2018!

​My name is Clare Lawlor and I’m here to tell you what we’ve been up to for the past month. 
 
August started with a 2AAA interview for me – which although was very nerve-wracking Marguerite helped to calm my nerves. We talked about our upcoming High Tea on September 1stwhere Marguerite asked me to ensure that we had scones with jam and cream, and cucumber sandwiches. I was then asked to choose a song to follow my interview and decided to go with “Girls Just Wanna Have Fun” by Cyndi Lauper. I think this classic song really supports the reason that so many of us have entered into the Miss Wagga Quest – we’re just girls trying to make Wagga a better place whilst having a good time.
 
Now, for the rest of August it might not look like there was too much on in the public eye – but that doesn’t mean our entrants weren’t busy working away behind closed doors! For us, August was certainly a planning month. We’d come off the high of our sold out Friday the 13thTrivia Night in July and were getting ready for our High Tea on September 1st.
 
We announced our first guest speaker for the High Tea – Carly Salmon. Carly is a Wagga local as well as an inspiring young Australian Paralympic Athlete! We’re so grateful that she is able to share her story with us at the High Tea and we’re so looking forward to hearing it. 
 
Our second guest speaker for the High Tea was then announced – Catherine McCormack, the wife of our very own Deputy Prime Minister Michael McCormack! Catherine has had some excellent life experiences over her years being involved in the building industry as well as politics and so we look forward to hear about them. We’re so glad that Catherine could give up her time to spend the afternoon with us. 
 
During our planning in August we were also able to announce our entertainment for the High Tea – Nathan Lamont. Nathan is also a local, and was involved with The Voice TV Show where he joined Team Madden. He’s a very talented musician and we thank him for sharing his time and talent with us. 
 
In the second half of August, some of our entrants and members of the committee also participated in donating blood and plasma at our local Blood Bank. Bonnie, Stina, and Melissa are pictured above. This is a tradition that was started by 2016 Miss Wagga Wagga, Melissa McKinnon, and we’re very happy to be involved in continuing it. 
 
As Ebony mentioned in the July blog, we all did interviews with Adam Drummond at Waggawagga.tv who kindly sponsors the Quest. Stina’s interview went live during the month and can be found on https://www.facebook.com/waggawagga.TV/
 
To finish up the month we managed to sell out our High Tea a week before the event! We’re so excited to be putting on another sold out event and cannot wait to see how the afternoon unfolds. 
 
However, while we’ve been working on the High Tea, we’ve also been planning our third and final event – Bingo! We’re hosting a Bingo afternoon at the Commercial Club on Sunday 7thOctober with a Cruise Ship theme! So please save the date and wear your best Hawaiian shirt and sandals. We hope to see you there!
 
- Clare Lawlor
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant

Welcome to the July edition of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrants Blog.
 
The month of July has seen all seven entrants visiting our beneficiaries, attending community events, chatting with local media representatives and delivering a very successful first event.
 
The 1st of July saw the local community come together to commemorate Reserve Forces Day for the final time. The entrants in attendance were overwhelmed by the efforts of organisers in preparing a respectful and reflective service. The Miss Wagga Wagga Entrants extend a thank you to all past and present members of the reserve forces for their sacrifice and selflessness, often in the face of great adversity.
 
Entrants had the privilege of spending some time with Adam Drummond at Waggawagga.tv to film personal interviews. The entrants were challenged to reflect on their motivations for joining the quest and shared some insight into their family, career and other relevant points of interest. Keep an eye out for the interviews which will be released each month on our Miss Wagga Wagga Facebook page to learn more about the 2019 entrants.
 
The entrants also livened up your Monday morning drive to work on Hit93.1 Riverina and Triple M Riverina. You may have also heard our entrants on 2AAA discussing the upcoming Miss Wagga Wagga Quest events. This radio experience was a first for many entrants, pushing aside a few jitters to introduce ourselves to listeners in the Riverina. Check out our Facebook page to locate a few happy snaps of the entrants with Herbie and Dane, Pottsy and Leighton, Leigh and Ian.
 
Our first official fundraising event was held on the 13th of July at the Que Bar. The annual Miss Wagga Wagga Trivia Night was a huge success with all attendees thoroughly enjoying themselves. There were some impressive scores at the end of the night. Well done to the tables placing first and second, in addition to our ‘wooden spoon’ table who walked away with a quirky prize. The Miss Wagga Wagga entrants would like to extend a huge thank you to everyone who came along on the night to support us in our fundraising efforts. We would also like to express gratitude for the generosity of many local businesses who donated prizes for our trivia table winners and raffle. Finally, we would like to thank the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Committee for their support on the evening.
 
Visits to our beneficiaries continued in the month of July. These visits provide entrants with a great insight into the tireless work of our worthy beneficiaries. Presslea and Stina were treated to a guided tour of the Forrest Centre Hospice by Director of Nursing, Tania. Later in the month Clare and Ebony were provided with a guided tour of Loretto Home of Compassion by Nurse Unit Manager, Gail. We are very appreciative of the time our beneficiaries have provided to assist us in gaining an understanding of their services and clients.
 
The Murrumbidgee Local Health District kindly invited Stina and Ebony to be in attendance at their annual awards ceremony. We were so inspired by the work of all nominees in the many MLHD awards categories. The innovation, dedication and empathy displayed by all individuals and teams was inspiring. The health of the Riverina is in great hands thanks to the expertise of the wonderful MLHD staff. We would like to thank Setchen from MLHD for the invitation and wish all award winners every success in their future endeavours.

To finish the month of July entrants Bonnie, Clare, Ebony and Stina attended The Mayoress’ Rural Command Performance at the Civic Theatre. A fantastic performance was enjoyed as a result of the tireless efforts of Mayoress Jenny Conkey, over 30 performers and countless volunteers. The proceeds from the two performances will be utilised to support youth programs offered by the Wagga Wagga PCYC. Congratulations to all involved on such a fabulous performance.
 
The entrants are currently busy planning for the second fundraising event for the year. The Miss Wagga Wagga Quest High Tea will be held on Saturday the 1st of September at the Riverine Club from 2:00 – 5:00pm. Tickets are $29 each and are available for purchase through the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest website.
 
We also ask you to add Sunday the 7th of October to your diary. The final official fundraising event for 2018 will be a Bingo Afternoon. Keep an eye out for more information to be released in the next few weeks.
 
Enjoy the final month of winter in Wagga Wagga. We look forward to seeing you at our High Tea.
 
- Ebony Neal
Miss Wagga Wagga Entrant 2019

Welcome to the official blog for our Miss Wagga Wagga Quest, June 2018. My name is Presslea Cowan, I’m here to fill you in on our busy month, take a seat it’s been a big one!
 
After a couple of hectic months we have finally settled in and continued to visit our beneficiaries and attend meetings and interviews. The entrants have been sitting down each week and knuckling out the finer details of our first event that is close around the corner.
 
DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR TRIVIA NIGHT FRIDAY 13TH OF JULY 2018 – Tickets are selling out fast!
 
We started June with our first meat raffle at the Union on the first Friday night and have continued to run the raffles every Friday this month. The raffles have been a great success and the girls have enjoyed seeing the regular faces of the community each week competing for the best meat tray of the night.
 
If you haven’t been keeping up to date with The Riverina Leader’s entrant articles make sure you grab the next one!  Each week an article delves into one of the entrant’s life, talking about our reasons for joining the quest, passions, and inspirations and why we love our home, Wagga. It’s a great way to get to know each entrant a little bit better and what a brilliant way to start your morning with a cup of coffee and a good newspaper article to read.
 
Stina, Clare, Chelsea and Ebony paid a visit to the Leisure Company where they attending a cooking class and spoke with the class about some of the great activities they get to be involved in at the Leisure Company such as singing and dancing, art, sport, work experience and social outings. It has been fantastic to be able to pop into our beneficiaries to see what support they are providing our community.
 
Ebony, Stina and Clare attended the Lost Lanes Festival to help with surveying the patrons who attended on the cold evening, despite the weather the event was a highly successful!
 
Clare, Chelsea and Bonnie were interviewed by Wagga TV; keep an eye out for the airing of each entrant in the coming weeks. Stina, Ebony, Taylor and Presslea will be interviewed in the coming weeks so keep your eyes peeled.

Chelsea, Clare and Stina made their debut appearances on Hit FM, entertaining the listeners of Wagga Wagga. Don’t forget to tune in in the coming weeks for Ebony, Presslea, Taylor and Bonnie’s interviews! Who doesn’t want a fun car trip on the way to work listening to us girls have a chat on air. 

​Our month concluded with Stina and Bonnie attending the Amie St Clair Melanoma Trust Ball as ushers on the evening. A beautiful way to wrap up the month of June, dressed up to meet more of our community.
 
We have been working so hard to get ready for our first event, as slightly time consuming it may seem as we are doing something every week, we are all enjoying the journey thus far. We have loved every second of meeting local faces amongst the community and cannot wait to see many of you at our first event.
 
DON’T FORGET TO SAVE THE DATE FOR OUR TRIVIA NIGHT FRIDAY 13TH OF JULY 2018 – Tickets are selling out fast, head to the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest home page for details.
 
A huge thank you to everyone who has gotten behind the quest so far, we wouldn’t be here without you. See you all for a fun night of Trivia!

It is official, the entrants and I are now just over a month into the 2019 Quest and it has been quite the journey so far! My name is Taylor Lemmon and this is the second blog to be posted by one of the entrants. I’m here to give you the inside scoop for month two.
 
Where else to begin other than the Official Launch night? The lead up to the launch definitely had my and a few of the other girls stomachs in knots. The feeling of knowing that in just a few days you will be standing up in front of a crowd filled with strangers, friends, family and fellow entrants to talk about “what Wagga Wagga means to me” was indescribable. By this time we all had our dresses selected and the matching shoes ready to parade but the nerves and excitement had only grown. We all made our way to the venue before the Launch commenced to get the final touches perfected before presenting ourselves and I must say everyone looked absolutely fabulous! Before long we were seated and socialising awaiting our time to get up and do our five minute speech. Each entrant’s speech was filled with individualism and was presented extremely well. I can definitely say that walking up to the podium to prepare for my speech the only thing I was thinking was don’t trip over in front of EVERYONE and thankfully I succeeded. As soon as I began talking the nerves melted away and I actually enjoyed speaking in front of a hefty crowd. Public speaking is not one of my strong suits but I definitely escaped my comfort zone that evening and I feel as if the personal development had really begun. Dinner was brilliant and speaking to the guests of the evening was just fantastic. It was great to get out and speak to different community members, it was enlightening. The very next day we all saw our pictures uploaded to introduce ourselves and some of the interviews that were conducted were also portrayed. That was definitely a strange feeling to see yourself out there like that but nevertheless it aided in stepping into spotlight for the very first time. I thoroughly enjoyed the evening with the girls and believe it was more than prosperous.
 
As the days continued on, fellow entrants had the opportunity to be interviewed, and visit some of our beneficiaries for the year. Stina conducted an interview with Oscar Wills, producer of the ABC breakfast radio show on debunking quest myths and discussing cultural barriers. The Loretto Home of Compassion was the first beneficiary to be met and four of our lovely entrants had the chance to engage with the community. This was then followed by a trip to Country Hope, another beneficiary, and finally the Forrest Centre was visited. We continue to organise times to meet the remaining beneficiaries to see just who we will be helping and how we will do so.
 
As we delved deeper into the month of May, we begun getting together to organise the very first event for the year. I would like to make one thing very clear:
 
SAVE THE DATE FOR THE 13th of JULY 2018 AT 1830!
 
This will be our very first event and we are all so excited for it to come! We will be piloting a Trivia night at the Que Bar. More information in regards to the event will be released very very shortly but make sure you are available to come, it is going to be a great night.
 
To my fellow entrants: Girls we have already come so far and I couldn’t be more proud of what we have begun to and will continue to achieve. It is going to be a prosperous year and I am so glad to have met you all on this journey. We will endure to become the best selves we can be and I am so honoured that it will be with you!
 
That’s just about it for May, I hope you enjoyed catching up with where the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest is currently at and hope to meet some of you at our first event!
 
- Taylor Lemmon
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant

From Never, to Now. That was me and the Quest. My name is Stina Constantine, always a Quest supporter, never a Quest entrant… Until Now. Thanks to the generosity of my wonderful colleagues at Relationship’s Australia, who in one morning tea raised the necessary funds for my endeavour to overcome the one opportunity I continued to close the door on. Having watched many young women, including friends, enter and grow through the quest I came to admire their ambition, hard work, vulnerability and their personal achievements. But I always noticed only certain women stood up to the task. Busy, courageous women for sure. However, I rarely saw women from diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds, so I dared not enter either. Which suited me just fine, seen as the idea of being in the public eye made me nervous. Until I realised, maybe it’s time someone challenged that mould. What if there are others who considered entering but didn’t because they thought they looked different? So, I enter hoping other women like me, might realise this isn’t an exclusive quest, but rather a city’s quest for young ambassadors and a women’s quest for self, incorporating all that a person is.
  
The journey thus far has involved a lot of personal development sessions, meeting some of the committee members and getting to know the other entrants. The other entrants have described the last couple of months as exciting, empowering, defining and rewarding. Although, I resonate with these words, for me there is one word that overpowers them all… ‘nerve-racking!!!’. Everything from meeting the other entrants and realising first day of school questions still exist, 
‘will there be others who look like me? will they like me? will they be nice?’ 
To more character building questions 
‘what do I have to offer this City and the people in it?’ and ‘Who am I?’ 

I was relieved to find the other entrants were not only nice, but smart, funny, strong, talented and passionate, and this in just 2 months. To think I’m now able to spend the next 7 months working together with them, is truly a privilege. 

Our initial tasks included thinking about why we joined the quest and answering a series of questions for our profiles, followed by diving straight into the initial personal development sessions. Sarah Navin (Former Miss Wagga Wagga 2017) who walked us through all forms of media, and a spot mock interview. The nerves were high, but so were the giggles of relief afterwards. Followed by Hair & Makeup Session with Yvette and the ladies at Passions Hair & Beauty who guided us through skin care, hair and makeup that would suit each entrant, as well as handy tips and tricks. This is where we also met the current titleholders Zoe Martin & Maddie Smith, Miss Wagga Wagga 2018 and Community Princess respectively. Dining Etiquette with the Chair of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest, Larry Buete and Entrant Coordinator, Melissa McKinnon (also former Miss Wagga Wagga 2016) was next and clarified the oh so elusive ‘bread & butter’ situation. It was also the opportunity for our first official entrant’s task of choosing beneficiaries from our applications. This was not an easy job and proved to be a challenging yet fruitful discussion for all involved. Dress etiquette by the Mayoress, Jenny Conkey and Brenda Tritton (former committee member) was next, who walked us through the importance of following the neat & tidy rules of a lady whilst always ensuring our personalities shone through. Events session run by Alexandra Mack (Community Princess 2012) was essentially about everything we need to know to run an event smoothly. At last, I finally felt like I was starting to understand what the fundraising year might look like, and it excited me. With a looming formal speech around the corner it was a pleasure to sit with the Former Mayor, Rod Kendall, to discuss speech writing and delivery, what to do and what not to do. His words ‘treasure your individuality’ reminded me of what Larry and Melissa had told us from day one ‘Don’t try to be someone you’re not, Just Be You’ and this hit home again. At the end of the day this quest is a duel endeavour, yes community growth, but also personal growth. 

With the launch just around the corner, it was a joy to sit down with the entrants over a relaxed meal to discuss the all important final touches… which shoes to wear with that dress for the launch?  

As the evening of the launch draws near, I am mixed with both nerves and excitement. Nerves, because growth means, growing pains; I want to give this endeavour my best, and knowing you’re being judged at every event has its toll. But also, excited to have met these women and to be able to work together to give back to our city that we respect and admire. 

To the other entrants Bonnie, Chelsea, Clare, Ebony, Taylor & Presslea, I salute your courage to pursue the best version of yourself, and I’m so looking forward to working with you all to make a difference in our community no matter the size 
– together we can make a meaningful change.
 
- Stina Constantine
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant