Welcome to our blog for July 2021!

G’day! I am Jessikah McCarthy and I am an Entrant in this year’s Miss Wagga Wagga Quest. I grew up in The Rock and moved to Wollongong to complete a Bachelor of Health and Physical Education. After completing my degree, I moved back to Wagga Wagga to pursue my career as a PDHPE Teacher. I joined the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest as I thought it would be the perfect opportunity to become more involved in and give back to our local community. What a rewarding experience this has been so far!

On Saturday the 10th of July, we held our first event – a meat tasting experience at CSU. We had many people very generously give some of their time on a Saturday afternoon to taste some beef and assist us with our first fundraising event. We held three tasting sessions throughout the afternoon, and we were very fortunate to have a lucky door prize for each session donated by South Wagga Butchery.

We spent the next couple of weeks finalising all the details for our “Through the Decades” themed trivia night, including organising the decorations, writing the questions for our trivia rounds and creating the games for between the rounds.
Before we knew it, the 30th of July had arrived. Each Entrant hosted a round of trivia, from the 1960’s through to the 2010’s. We loved seeing all of our guests dressing up with the theme and we awarded prizes for best dressed costumes. To make the COVID-19 mask wearing restrictions a little more fun, we also gave prizes for the best masks. The Entrants had a fantastic evening dressing up in costumes from our chosen decades and enjoyed the experience of hosting this event ourselves. The night was a great success and the money raised will be a great contribution to our fundraising goals to support our chosen beneficiaries this year.

On behalf of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrants, I would like to thank Romano’s Hotel for allowing us to use their venue for our trivia night and the Rotary Club of Wollundry for the use of their audio equipment. Thank you to all who attended and to those who donated prizes and equipment in support of our event. Your contributions were all greatly appreciated!
 
Before I sign off, I would like to take the opportunity to thank my sponsor Embrace of Hair Studio for their continuous support throughout this incredible experience.
 
It has been a great privilege to work alongside four incredible young women to organise our events so far and we hope to see you at one of our events soon!
 
-    Jessikah McCarthy
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2022 Entrant 

Hello! Emi here, one of this year's Entrants for the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest. I joined the Quest with a goal to increase my confidence, challenge my anxiety, and to help and meet people! I'm a university student and pharmacy assistant, with a particular interest in mental health. My sponsor, Wellways, reflects my mental health advocacy as they are a leading not-for-profit mental health and disability support organisation. I've been enjoying my time in the Quest and am looking forward to what is to come! 

This month has been largely focused on organising our first event - retro themed trivia night! 

We had a professional development session on event management, which has been so helpful in making sure we are on the right track with the organising of our first event and our future events. There are many aspects to organising a successful event that need to be considered. Venue, ticketing, catering, health and safety, run sheets, organising prizes, organising décor, and advertising are just a few of the main elements that need to be considered when organising events such as these. 

This month has been greatly focused on finding a venue, and sourcing donations from individuals and businesses. Through a lot of emailing, phone calls, and trial and error, we sourced a date and venue that would suit our needs for the event. 

We collaborated with one another in frequent meetings to determine various aspects of our event such as theme, ticketing prices, advertising posters and catering. It has been a challenging but effective process for all of us. We have al gained so much insight into how much work, time and effort goes into these kind of events and are more aware of different aspects required when putting these types of events together. 

So many wonderful businesses and individuals have also very kindly donated prizes to us. We are overwhelmed by the generosity of the community and thank them sincerely. 

Through the organising of our first event we have been able to learn what to do the same and what to do differently in our planning and organising for future events to come. 

We are so excited for our trivia night at the end of July. We have put a lot of time and effort into it and can't wait to share it with everybody! 

We look forward to meeting new people and organising successful events for the community to come together! 

- Emi O'Brien 
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2022 Entrant 

Hello and welcome to the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant Blogs for 2022!

Before I tell you about the inspiring personal development nights and journey the Entrants enjoyed in April and May, let me tell you a bit about myself and why I chose to enter the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2022. My name is Molly Burley and I grew up in Wagga Wagga and I am the 5th generation of my family to grow up in Wagga Wagga. I went to Henschke Primary School and Kildare Catholic College. After completing Year 12 I wasn’t sure what career path I wanted to take and at a last minute decision I enrolled at TAFE and completed a Diploma in Visual Arts. After giving university a go and trying to study online, I am now doing a traineeship studying Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care and working at Inspire Early Learning Centre.
I continue to practice my painting and drawing, and photography. I am also developing an interest in music and am interested in learning the piano. I am excited to be involved in the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest and can’t wait to see how much I’ll grow over the year. I know it’s going to be a big year but I’m ready to be pushed out of my comfort zone and improve on myself. One aspect of the Quest that really warms my heart is that we get to raise much needed funds for our local beneficiaries.

Now about our personal development sessions leading up to our Launch Evening.

Our first personal development night consisted of learning about dressing for an event and different dress codes. We were educated about what is meant for each dress code, eg. black tie, formal, cocktail, business etc. We learnt how the way we present ourselves informs the people around us of what to think, it is the first impression and the first impression always counts. We gained an understanding of how if we dress in something that is comfortable and compliments our body shape, and something we are confident wearing, the confidence will shine through and make it easier to present ourselves to others. We were also given some helpful tips like "less is more" and that it's better to be overdressed than underdressed, and how to stay classy and elegant.

Also during this session we were given the opportunity to get an insight on how to write a speech and deliver it. The Entrants and myself were informed about what needs to be included in a speech and how to structure it, as well as some tips and tricks on what makes a great speech. We then had the opportunity to talk about a topic on the spot for one minute, which allowed us to have a starting point on what we needed to work on leading up to our launch night in May. This exercise also allowed us to see how the different tips and tricks of public speaking can actually work.

For our second personal development session we enjoyed a lovely lunch at The Roundabout Restaurant where we were taught dining and table etiquette. I found this session quite enjoyable as it allowed me to learn about correct etiquette, and cleared up any misunderstandings around dining. During this session my heart was warmed knowing the chef was willing to accommodate to my unusual dietary requirements, this allowed me to achieve a sense of belonging in the group. 

During this session we also learnt about how to be Entrants in the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest and what is required of us in regards to organising fundraising events as well as how everything will come together in terms of fundraising. We were also informed about the work done behind the scenes in relation to the social media side of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest.

Our next personal development night was centred around having a healthy mind and body. We talked about how eating well will help us to have a healthy mind as well as a healthy body and the influences they have on each other. We shared ideas and tips on how to keep a healthy mind and how important it is to reserve down time for just yourself. The Entrants and I participated in a bonding activity that required us to write down something positive about each of the other Entrants, and we now all have a piece of paper with these positive affirmations about ourselves which I know I’ll treasure from this Quest. Lastly we all joined in on a group exercise session together.

Our last personal development night was having the opportunity to practice a live radio and television interview. We were enlightened with some tips on how to prepare for different types of interviews. We then all took turns to have a radio and television interview, and got to listen to them together with some feedback as to where we can improve for next time. This was a very interesting and nerve-wracking exercise, however it pushed me out of my comfort zone and has prepared me for the year to come.

All these personal development sessions prepared us for our big night, our launch night! 

On the night of our launch we all delivered a speech on what Wagga Wagga means to us, which was very scary. We all took in turns delivering our speeches in between the different courses of our lovely meal that night. The night also required us to mingle with people we had never met before and meet some very important people. We got to use some of the things we learned at our personal development sessions that led up to this evening, for example dress codes, speech writing and public speaking, table and dining etiquette. The night had some unexpected events happen as the fire alarm went off and we had to evacuate the venue not only once, but twice. This made for a good laugh and memory of the evening.

I would like to say a big thank you to Ted and Olive Boutique for sponsoring me to go on this wonderful journey.

I hope you all enjoyed reading about our personal development sessions and preparation leading into the start of the Quest.

- Molly Burley
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2022 Entrant

 The final countdown!
 
Here we are, at the end of our entrant year, we are only days away from the Miss Wagga Wagga 2020 Crowning Ceremony and oh how time flies! My name is Hannah Smith and I will be the last entrant that you will be hearing from this year, next month you will be hearing from our newly crowned Miss Wagga Wagga and Community Princess 2020. This month has been flat out with our final event on the 11th and then tying up all the loose ends before November. It has consisted of writing a lot of thank you letters, preparing for interviews and writing speeches. Thank you everyone that has helped us during the year, whether it was with donations, volunteering your time and in particular your presence at our events.
 
Before I jump into our antics of October, I will quickly tell you a couple of details about myself. I grew up in Wagga Wagga and attended South Wagga Wagga Public School and Kildare Catholic College. In 2016 I made the move to Wollongong to attend the University of Wollongong for 3 years as I attempted to complete a Bachelor of Commerce, I say attempted as it is still a work in progress (I plan on finishing it one day). At the end of 2018 I had the realisation that university was not working for me and moved my life back to Wagga Wagga to be surrounded by family and friends. This was by far the best move I ever made. I was welcomed back into my community with open arms and have been given so many great opportunities. I now work full time for Crown Lands (Department of Planning, Industry and Environment) and have been able to throw myself back into my childhood hobby of playing the cello by rejoining a local strings group at the Riverina Conservatorium of Music. With all of this, there is still one opportunity that takes the cake, becoming a Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Entrant 2020. I have been pushed out of my comfort zone, attended a number of community events and gained so much confidence and experience along the way.
 
Now to tell you all about what we did in October.
 
We started this month with a smashing success, hosting our final fundraising event as a Masquerade Ball at the Magpies Nest Restaurant. After all of our hard work sourcing generous donations, decorating, promoting and choosing menu items it was so rewarding for it to all come together so well and to raise more money towards our beneficiaries. Our live auction went off with a bang all thanks to our guest auctioneer, James Tierney, from Riverina Livestock Agents. Thank you James for your continued support of the Quest, this was not the first auction that you have run for entrants and we hope it won’t be the last.
 
Our Waggawagga.TV interviews with Adam Drummond have continued to be aired. If you missed them they can be found on the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Facebook Page. We heard from myself at the start of the month discussing the Masquerade Ball, Hayley spoke about our Crowning Ceremony and we will hear from Montanna right at the end of the month, reminding everyone to come and celebrate the 72nd Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Crowning at the Wagga Wagga Art Gallery on Saturday 2nd November 2019. It is a free public event so we hope to see you all there!
 
Entrants completed their Mock Interviews with members of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest Committee in preparation for the final interviews on the 1st of November. I am sure we all crushed it! There was a lovely moment while the interviews were happening where the majority of entrants were sitting in the RSM waiting room. The atmosphere was so positive and supportive, some had already completed their interview while others were waiting to go in. We were all talking about the year, what we had left to do and how far we had come. The moment accentuated how we have all come together as a group and will be leaving the Quest as friends.
 
This has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life and the start of next month will be bittersweet, as the next titleholders are announced. It will also marking the end of this incredible journey we have all shared together.
 
- Hannah Smith 
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

Hello everyone! My name is Hayley Wallace and I am one of the Miss Wagga Wagga Entrants for 2020. Now, I do apologise that the ‘September’ blog is late, but us entrants have been busy little bees as the date of crowning creeps closer and closer…

Earlier in the month, the entrants were interviewed by Adam Drummond from Waggawagga.TV. I myself found this quite daunting to begin with (who would have thought little old me would be in front of the camera?!). Luckily, Adam makes you feel incredibly comfortable! It felt like I was just having a chat with him, and honestly forgot we were recording.

On behalf of the other entrants, and myself, I would like to thank Adam and everyone at Waggawagga.TV for being a media partner of the MWWQ. They have allowed us to have the opportunity to show the community of Wagga Wagga what this Quest is all about, as well as get to know us Entrants a little more personally!

Later on in September, on the 8th, the 2020 Entrants spent their whole Sunday clicking tongs and flipping snags at their local Bunnings. We were fortunate enough to have meat, bread, onions, napkins and all those other essentials you need for a good old sausage sanga, donated to us by local businesses… These businesses include:

• South Wagga Butchery
• South City Quality Meats
• Ferndale Distributors
• Coca Cola

A huge thank you to these four companies, as without their contributions we wouldn’t have been able to raise as many funds for our such worthy beneficiaries.

The Entrants spent the rest of September gearing up for their final fundraising event, ‘Masquerade by Moonlight’. We were all busy sourcing decorations, seeking donations for our live and silent auctions, as well as finding new ways to sell tickets to the event, finalising any last minute on-going raffle ticket sales, all while trying to find our own ball gowns and the perfect mask to match!

Before I sign off I would just like to thank everyone who has supported this shy little girl all throughout the year. As it draws to a close (or new beginning…), I have really been able to see that no one really wants you to fail, but only wishes to see you grow into the best form of yourself. I wouldn’t be able to do this without my family, friends, the committee and the sponsorship from Richard at Ladex Construction.

Another very big thank you to the community I am lucky enough to have grown up in, and continue to live in today. Also without you, the Quest would not be in its 72nd year.

I hope to see you at crowning! Xx

- Hayley Wallace
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant ​

Hello and welcome to the August instalment of the Miss Wagga Quest Entrant Blog.
 
For people who do not know me, my name is Tegan Nash. I am a Wagga girl through and through and wouldn’t have it any other way. My family is quite well known here in the building industry, where my father has built a lot of the iconic buildings here in Wagga. I am also quite a strong advocate in the prevention of Melanoma and early skin detection hence my sponsors Complete Skin & Caton Medical. I cannot thank them enough for sponsoring me in the Quest. 
 
Hence what better reason to join the quest and help much needed charities.
 
In August we hosted our very first High Tea event at the Riverine Club, which was an unbelievable success and turn out. Running of this event helped our beneficiaries get closer in their fundraising.
 
This then saw all of us entrants starting to organise the Bunnings Sausage Sizzle and the Masquerade Ball. We also hosted a few pub meat raffles on a Friday night at the Victoria Hotel.
 
Meetings happens every 2 weeks on a Monday night. It’s not all just about organising events, we like to catch up and see how everyone is going. I personally believe this has helped me in my personal development and seeing how far I have come from the start of the Quest.
 
People say to me all the time; how do you find the time doing this plus working full-time. To me I find it a great challenge but it’s all for a worth cause.
 
Please keep an eye out for our next events.
 
On behalf of all the entrants we thank you for all who have attended an event, sponsored and supported.
 
- Tegan Nash
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

We are now well into the Quest, with only 4 months until crowning and still three fundraisers to go before we find out who will be crowned “Miss Wagga Wagga 2020”. My name is Montanna Ross, one of 7 entrants in this years quest. Firstly I wold like to thank everyone who has supported the quest so far, whether it be supporting one of our events, donating a prize or your time or buying a raffle ticket we all sincerely appreciate it. Also a personal thank you to my bosses at Riverina Livestock Agents for sponsoring me to go in the quest, it wouldn’t have been made possible without their support.
 
For those of you who don’t know me, I was born at the Wagga Base Hospital and grew up in the Riverina just down the Olympic Highway at Henty. I learnt to swim at the oasis and I learn to dance at Miss Minas Dance Studio (not that you would pick it these days). Since moving to Wagga in 2016, the community has already given me so much. I got my first job in retail at RB Sellars, poured my first beer at the Red Steer and have continued to go on and pursue a career in something I am passionate about. I decided to join the quest to give back to such a supportive community and to continue to grow as an individual.
 
July was a pretty quiet month for our entrants, we had our usual weekly meetings gearing up for the Hightea to be held on the 11th of August at the Riverine Club, where there will be plenty of food, tea and bubbles to be shared by all. We also ran multiple Friday night meat raffles at the Victoria Hotel, which was greatly supported by the patrons. We are very lucky and appreciative for the ongoing support from the Riverine Club and the Victoria Hotel.
 
Keep an eyeout for what we have instore over the comming of months.
 
-Montanna Ross
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

Hello and welcome to the June instalment of the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest entrant blog!

My name is Erica Davis and I’m very excited to be writing this for you. This week I am away from Wagga, in the Northern Territory of this beautiful country. I am completing a week of compulsory placement at Litchfield Veterinary hospital hoping to lighten my load of placement for the end of year break. I am also enjoying some R&R after what has been an exceptionally busy session at Uni.

Last month our calendar was busy with the preparation and completion of our very first event, “A night at the Movies” themed trivia night. We were lucky enough to have Herbie from Hit 93.1 give up her Friday night to MC for us, this made the night go exceptionally smoothly. Note to others; Having a professional on the job definitely helps!

The night had a very relaxed atmosphere and it was great to see so many people getting involved with our dress up theme. Prizes were awarded for best dressed individual and best dressed table and you can find photos of our winners on our Facebook page where an album has been uploaded.

We spent the weeks in lead up deciding on decorations, creating questions for our crowd, organising ticket sales, collecting prizes and composing a power-point for the evening.
 
Many meetings and lots of hard work goes into these nights so I believe we should be very proud of how it all came together. The night was a huge success with many funds raised. This is phenomenal and we are so excited to have made a significant contribution to our goal for the year. Every little bit that we raise for our very deserving beneficiaries is important.

Currently we are preparing for our next event, which is a lace themed High Tea on the 11th of August at the Riverine Club.  If you are reading this be sure to keep your eyes peeled for tickets available soon and more information on our Facebook page.
 
The afternoon will feature a selection of hand-baked goodies, tea, coffee, a cheeky glass of bubbles for those who dare as well as a silent auction and the musical talents of Harry and Tom. It is sure to be a blast and we are excited to get our second event underway as well as having an excuse to dress up for the day.

To wrap up this blog post I would like to mention how eye-opening this experience has been so far. From the personal development sessions to the launch night to the completion of our first event. Working these six amazing young ladies has been a real privilege.
 
Finally, on behalf of my fellow entrants; Margie, Brittany, Hayley, Hannah, Montanna and Tegan; thank you to everyone who attended, sponsored and supported our trivia in some small way. Your contribution and generosity does not go unnoticed.

Thanks for reading and have a spectacular July.

- Erica Davis 
Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant 

What a journey ahead of us! Welcome to the May blog. My name is Margie Gaynor and I will be giving you insight into the exciting festivities held within the second month of the Quest. We had just finished our personal development days and now the focus was on the Official Launch night.  
 
The Official Launch night had all of us girls both excited and nervous. Our speeches prepared, outfits ready and off we went to the Country Club, were we would give a five-minute speech on ‘What Wagga Means to Me?’ I knew that the Quest would put me out of my comfort zone and challenge me in different ways, and this was definitely the beginning.
 
The room was filled with multiple members of the community, family and friends. Entrants and I greeted our guests, and got to know so many new people. For dinner we had lovely meals and for each course we moved tables to ensure we got to socialise with various people. The entrants and myself enjoyed getting the chance to meet so many wonderful people. For me this night really helped me gain greater confidence within myself. It was proof that I could do anything that I set my mind to. Our sponsors walked us into the launch as we were being introduced to the guests. My sponsor is WDF Professionals and I was lucky enough to be escorted into the room by Vicky Richards. When we got our sashes and badge it all started to feel real, this journey had officially begun. When the launch was over, the entrants and I had meetings ahead of us to plan for the upcoming events.
 
Our upcoming event – Trivia Night - June 21st 2019 at 6.30pm
Announcing our first event, ‘A Night at the Movies’. The trivia night will be a fun night to raise money for our four deserving beneficiaries. Planning is underway and all entrants are enthusiastically preparing and working together to make sure the events are all organised. Working as a team has been so much fun and each entrant brings a different dynamic to the group. I feel so lucky to be a part of such a passionate, hard working group of young women. It will be a great journey with all of my fellow entrants as we all support one another in order to raise money and give back to the community.
 
I would like to thank the current Miss Wagga Stina Constantine and Community Princess Presslea Cowan for supporting the entrants and myself by taking the time to get to know us. You both do an amazing job.
 
I hope you all enjoyed looking into our Month of May and our journey so far in the Miss Wagga Wagga Quest.

- Margie Gaynor 
​Miss Wagga Wagga Quest 2020 Entrant