 Hi everyone, I'm your Miss Vermont 2023 Yimuna Turco and welcome to the Miss Vermont voice This is an interview style show where I speak with local members of the community and different people who are maybe even involved with the Miss Vermont or Miss America organizations Today I have a former Miss Vermont community member teacher and educator and that is Riley Field. Hi. Hi. Thank you for coming This is so exciting. I'm so excited to have you so Riley you are as I said, you're an educator. You're a teacher and an advocate, but you were also Miss Vermont 2016 So would you mind telling me a little bit about your time as Miss Vermont? Sure, being Miss Vermont was a phenomenal experience And I always say that being part of the Miss Vermont organization is what led me to where I am now So even though I'm a teacher and I don't wear a crown in the classroom I am a teacher because of the experiences I had that when I was Miss Vermont and because of the people I met when I was Miss Vermont and Following my time in the organization as a title holder I became a board member for a few years and a volunteer in the years in between So it's something that really shaped who I am now even though Day-to-day not as glamorous not even close So you mentioned that you were part of the board So would you mind telling us how long you were on the board and maybe your role on the board? Sure I was on the board for three years and I was the social media and marketing chair and it was really exciting to be part of the behind-the-scenes of Miss Vermont I was a Contestant and a candidate for so long before I won and then I was a title holder that getting to be part of the organization and Bringing in girls who wanted to be part of this organization and being part of the voice that is Miss Vermont on social media was really exciting And it was a fun way to be able to support the board which is all volunteer based Without feeling like I was right back where I started Would you say then because of your involvement with the organization and the board? That all the changes that have been going on make you want to be more involved or want to bring more girls into the organization Certainly bring more girls into the organization Nothing that has happened within the Miss America opportunity since I have been Miss Vermont or since I even Started being involved in the program has made me want to step back from the organization I think because at its heart it is about scholarships and about empowering women. There's nothing that I see in the Organization thus far that has made me want to remove myself. I Love more than anything though that the Miss Vermont organization really focuses on growing Leaders for Vermont and I think that outside of the Miss America opportunity the Miss Vermont scholarship Organization is something that just is so invaluable to the women and the young girls in Vermont That's really great. I would as a current title holder I would definitely have to agree my mission is to get more girls to join more people because Also, the more people that are a part of our organization the more scholarships were able to give out the more Scholarship dollars were able to give out as well. So that would be super ideal So as I mentioned before you're a teacher and an educator and my platform is child literacy Is there anything that I can do or that the people of Vermont can do to better support their teachers? Oh, Absolutely, I mean the the simplest thing that I can say is that you should vote for things that support education Vote for school board members that are champions for children and and vote in local elections for people that are looking to support local schools But I am a teacher here in Vermont and I teach special education Which is a really vulnerable population of our students and it's been incredibly rewarding one of the things that I tell people Whether or not they have kids or they're just supporting students in Vermont is that there is no harm in reading to a child So you're right on the money there It's true And it's one of those things that I think like miss Vermont has the ability to open doors in ways that we don't understand until it happens And so much like I always say that miss Vermont led me to here I truly believe that reading to kids and exposing kids to literature as early as possible and as often as possible is Something that's going to benefit them down the line. Yeah, definitely Okay, so we've gone over kind of the broad overarching things definitely what we can do in Vermont to support our teachers Um, this may sound a bit funny, but is there anything nationwide that as a teacher and as an educator You would like to see kind of bolster to increase the support for teachers I I just don't know if we have the time right I see that Yeah, I think that the list is really long Right we're supporting kids in schools because we want quality teachers and we want to be able to give them quality instruction We also want to be able to feed kids in schools. We also want to be able to keep kids safe in schools We also want kids to be able to be themselves in schools. I mean the list goes on and on and on, right On a national scale, what can you do as a vermont or what can you do as miss vermont? I think the the answer is really simple as you get involved in your community schools Especially here in chitenden county. We have the ability to really support community based schools and neighborhood based elementary schools in a way that is not typical all over the state of vermont and being able to volunteer or donate or give time energy Things that are not just money to these programs and to these schools is It's life-changing. You might think that giving an hour of your lunch once a week to be a recess monitor is really small But you have the ability to build relationships even in that one hour a week Yeah, that's really great and I really appreciate that so i'm going to keep that with me and kind of continue doing that and also As someone who was technically a local title holder before you know the miss vermont scholarship organization We don't have necessarily competitions to be local title holders But to have that. I think that's a great way to start. Absolutely. Absolutely And I started as a local title holder. Exactly I had multiple local titles before I won miss vermont and and it was you're right It's all about getting into the community you're already in You don't have to have a crown in sash to be able to support students or whoever your platform might not be literacy related or student related, but you still have the ability to get into Local options that allow you to volunteer and support other people. Yeah, definitely. That's really great. Thank you so much So kind of going over everything there are a couple updates that i'm going to go over that kind of pertain To the miss vermont scholarship organization, but also to the much larger miss america opportunity, which is one of the updates Okay, so we're going to start out the miss vermont scholarship organization If you would like to get involved in your community in a way that might make you more quote unquote visible You should be involved in your community regardless of in what way in my humble opinion But if you would like to get involved in this way, we are starting to think about our miss vermont and miss vermont's teen 2024 class If you'd like to learn more, there's the miss vermont.org website or you can reach out to me on social media or via email We really want to increase this class We want to make sure that there's so many young women a part of this organization for scholarships for opportunities And just to really boost your self-esteem and confidence. That was probably the biggest non tangible thing that I took away from this Absolutely, it was amazing I think the biggest thing that I learned the first time I was part of the miss vermont class, which mind you was back in 2012, okay, so I don't want to date myself too much, but it was in 2012 Was that I could be miss vermont And I think I entered that class and entered that opportunity being like well, I'm gonna be miss washington county and we'll see what happens And I left that year on the stage. I was third runner-up. I didn't win But I left being like, oh I can do this I can really do this and it's achievable and it's absolutely And so many young women that are a part of our organization end up becoming miss vermont or miss vermont's teen But even if you don't you gain so much from the experience and sometimes you gain scholarship Sometimes you'll gain a scholarship even if you don't end up winning Yeah, a lot of our girls do a lot of people do and they win lots of money and lots of opportunities And I think that's the greatest part So if you would like to be a part of our 2024 class or even have any questions You can reach out to me on social media or via email. I can also include more information at the end of this um The next big change is the miss america organization is no longer the miss america organization It's now the miss america opportunity And that's to emphasize the focus on that this is an opportunity It creates a year-long program or if you end up being crowned miss america or miss america's teen Almost two years that you have an opportunity to work with community partners different community members just people across your state, but also Sponsors and you get to maybe have a talk show like this And you get to work on your social your community service initiative that name also changed Right and emphasize that and focus on that and I think it's pretty great that they're wanting to do that for us You also meet some of the most phenomenal women in the country I never met more people that were as driven as smart as Kind as willing to give their time and their energy and their expertise than when I went to miss america and Now you now you also have a friend in every state exactly You can't beat it. It's like 50 other people. I know pretty great And you all share this experience together and no no class So that's what we call them. No class will be the same. No, it's a once-in-a-lifetime experience Exactly every single time and that's incredible And then the last thing which is kind of a personal tidbit But a lot of people ask when miss america is going to be but that does begin with orientation So miss america orientation Is supposed to be labor day weekend and that's the current time we have set I'm super excited to meet these 50 other young women that i'm going to be competing with You're going to love it and these 50 other people that I get to have this year with this incredible experience Um Do you know where orientation is going to be or are you allowed to share where orientation is? Um, that's not fully confirmed. I have an idea, but I won't share it just because if it's not surprised in later episodes Exactly, you will you'll be surprised next episode or even the one after that in september Um, so yeah, so that's kind of the updates that I have. Thank you so much Riley for being on the show today I'm so excited to be your first official guest I wanted to make sure that the first guest I had was someone a part of the organization But also someone who is super involved in their community and wants their communities to succeed Yes, and that's I love and that's you. I love vermont. It's been a part of my life for 30 plus years, so It's can't be beat. No. Yeah. Thank you so much and thank you everyone for watching the miss for mom voice I'm your miss vermont. You moon aturko. Have a good night