Miss Northern Lights & Miss Northern Lights Teen 2025 Scholarship Competition

Welcome everybody to Midday magazine for this Thursday, December 26th, 2024.

Have your host James J. Mailoff here and welcoming in the studio today are good friend Ruby

Marty, Miss Northern Lights.

Ruby, it's good to have you with us.

How you been?

Pretty good.

It's been a really good year so far.

How have you been?

I'm doing good.

Thank you for asking.

Appreciate it.

I appreciate you being here and being able to tell us a little bit more about the Miss

Northern Lights organization, looking forward to diving into that.

But you've had this for a little while.

How was it going?

What have you been up to?

It's been a really, really great year so far for me.

I've had the opportunity to make so many appearances and represent the Northern Lights organization.

Some of my biggest appearances that I've done recently is I helped out at the Lena graduation.

So I worked with that 10 week program where they help prepare kids and give the parents

all of these helpful tips on how to better their kids' interaction and literacy.

And I got to help at that graduation finally about a month ago now.

And that was a really great experience as I got to see the kids grow through that.

And then more recently, I had the chance to help at one of the talk-sing-read play events,

which is a small group based out of, I believe, Steven's point.

And they host a play group once a month where kids can come and have the opportunity to

listen to a story.

So this one was Christmas themed, it was about a snowman.

And then they also got to make a Christmas craft.

And we did some Christmas caroling, like just together as a group, so it was really fun.

Yeah, so those are some of the biggest things I've done recently.

How comfortable are you singing?

How?

Because only in a group.

I'll only do it in a group where I can just hide in the background a little more.

Yeah, that's kind of how I am.

I'm not the world's best singer, like to say I am.

I couldn't remember what your talent was for the competition.

I've always told my directors it should be singing, but they've turned that down quite

a few times now.

We can always have the concerts in our vehicles.

That's always that, that's where I shine.

I shine in those.

I'm a great, but when it comes to being able to act on some of the causes, some of the

passions you have, have you been able to do that throughout this process?

I definitely have, yeah.

And then another thing that I've been able to really see actually impact, especially

the Wisconsin Rapids area, is there was a recent budget cut about to happen to the McMillan

library that was proposed.

I was able to reach out to my older person and I sent in a letter that I wanted him to

read to the group before they made the final decision as to having the budget cut or not.

And it was a $150,000 budget cut.

So it was a very big deal and it would greatly impact Wisconsin Rapids citizens.

And so he read it and then they had their vote and they ended up not going through with

the budget cut.

So McMillan library has been able to keep their full budget, which is great because they

really do need that money to operate.

And it's been really cool to see the impact that it has on my home community.

I am so glad you brought this up.

I had it in my notes.

I wanted to.

I will admit the audience pretty much knows this already.

I don't have a lot of journalistic integrity with our library.

I love McMillan.

I've loved it since I moved to this area.

My mother worked there for over a decade and loved the people there still does.

And even without all of that, if I just moved to this city.

And I'd seen McMillan library.

It's a hub.

It's a community hub.

It's something that you couldn't create that if you were trying.

It just has to happen organically and that often happens with our libraries and our communities.

The McMillan staff work so hard and they don't have a bad budget but they have a strained

budget like most of our city run organizations and everything.

So to lose a penny, they would have felt it.

To lose that amount of money, we'd all feel that.

We would all be noticing that difference.

Ruby, I apologize because I wasn't able to do a ton of homework on this but I haven't

seen a lot of people in your position go above and beyond like that.

I thought that was really impressive of what you did there.

Was this something that did you have the support in this and doing this where when you went

forward with it and everything?

And by that, I mean not just the Northern Lights organization but just the community in general,

your family.

Were they encouraging about this?

Yeah, absolutely.

I actually, what really got me involved with it is my director helped me reach out to

one of the Miss Wisconsin Rapids team contestants parents who is actually on the city council.

And so, or she like works with, yes, she's on the city council.

There's a connection there.

Yes.

We were reaching out to her and she asked if there was any way I could help get involved

with McMillan Library as she, we've heard about the budget cut that was happening.

And so I got her contacts and I got to kind of understand what was going on more.

She gave me more details as to what was happening.

And then she told me that if I wanted to write a letter or if I actually wanted to come

speak in person, unfortunately I had a basketball game that night so I couldn't physically

be there.

But she was really encouraging to me and believed to me that I would be able to help

with this cause.

And she thought it'd be really cool to get a teen's voice, someone who is very involved

with the library who loves the programs that they have to get their point of view and not

just have it be a council board members because that may not necessarily help them understand

what's going on as much.

You don't see the impact that's happening in the community.

I was thinking the same thing.

We have a lot of great people in the community, a lot of great leaders that could step up,

say something.

It means something different, not just coming from a younger person, but coming from

you in particular and coming from that group of people.

Like when you guys speak up, people listen and it goes somewhere, it means something.

It's really commendable.

It's really above and beyond.

Nice work.

Thank you.

I want to talk more about that and how people can take those passions and take them and

take them a step above and everything in this competition.

The empowering this organization and organizations like it do.

Let's talk a little bit about the Miss Northern Lights organization, which is if I understand

right a kind of a sister organization of Miss Wisconsin pageant, is that right?

It is.

Yeah.

What are some of the importance of this organization and the good it does, Ruby?

I think really one of the best parts of the Northern Lights organization is the director.

She's really awesome.

I've gotten to work with her for two years now.

Katie Thompson.

Katie Thompson.

Yeah.

She is a co director for the Wisconsin Rapids organization and then is the head director

for Northern Lights.

So I've had the opportunity to work with her for two years now, which has been really

incredible.

She definitely strives to make sure your year goes how you want it to go and helps you

go above and beyond and making appearances, getting your message out to the community.

And she really is just truly passionate about the organization and what it has to offer

young women.

There are not enough opportunities in life in society for women supporting women, especially

for younger women to be able to support each other.

Any opportunities for that, we need it more of and that's fantastic.

That alone is worth everything to me about this organization.

But it is also that empowerment is not, it's not just done in words.

It's done in scholarships, it's done in, you know, the, the, the abilities that you guys

make, the things you make happen like we were just talking about with the library.

Yeah.

It's been really great.

What are some of the other ways that the Northern Lights organization impacts our communities

our state that we maybe haven't gotten the chance to touch on yet?

Is there, is there anything we haven't touched on?

I think the main difference between like Wisconsin Rapids, the Miss Wisconsin Rapids competition

and the Northern Lights competition is that Wisconsin Rapids is a closed competition, which

means you have to live in Wisconsin Rapids to compete for Miss Wisconsin Rapids or Miss

Wisconsin Rapids team, whereas Northern Lights is an open competition where as long as you

live in the state of Wisconsin, you can compete for either of the titles.

And so with that, I think it really opens the doors for a much different, more diverse

community and group of girls that it's going to be competing, whereas Rapids, you're

very familiar with everyone, whereas this, I'm kind of going to walk in the day of and

meet everyone.

And I think it'll be a really cool experience and it's a great way, I think, to get involved

with different parts of your state and just the state as a whole and how to connect with

people that you may not live next door with.

Yeah.

Yeah.

When it comes to being able to the ability that something like this gives to the contestants,

to the people that end up winning and wearing that crown, this is an opportunity like very

few others.

There are, the competition is coming up, let's dive into that a little bit.

The Miss Northern Lights 2025 competition is Saturday, January 11th, it'll be at the

Century Theatre, encourage you to go to Miss Northern Lights dot com, bookmark that page

and be sure to keep an eye on it so you can get tickets and get there and support these

kids in this great event.

What are the details and the rules on this one?

I know I can't submit my resume, I learned that one right away, I am not a part of this.

But outside of me, there are other, there are people that can compete in this, what are

the details of those that can compete in this competition, Ruby?

So one of the biggest things is you have to live in the state of Wisconsin obviously,

but besides that, to compete in the teen part of the competition, you must be 13 through

17 years old and then to compete in the misdivision, you have to be between 17 and 28 years

old.

So it's a really large amount of age range, which is a really great thing to see.

I really do love the idea of people in their mid, early to mid 20s being able to be a

part of this.

I agree, yeah.

It's really great.

And that's very unique.

I don't know if I've seen that in the competition before, I've seen something like that before.

There's a number of layers that for me too.

Just going into the competition part of it, something I have been very spoiled with and

blessed to see and I cannot stress that enough.

I came into this job and having gotten the chance to interview the Miss Wisconsin Rabbids

and Miss Wisconsin Rabbids teen compadients, contestants like we do every year and you

were in for that and stuff.

And we always have fun with you guys.

It's a blast.

I love talking to kids.

It gives me a lot of hope about the future and everything getting to do this.

I agree.

I had no idea the empowering that can happen with this and the friendships that can happen,

the camaraderie that happens with it.

That's wonderful on our level here in town with those competitions was something like this.

The idea of a 17 year old and a mid, somebody in their mid 20s being able to talk, being

able to become friends, sharing or, you know, just common information or what.

Whatever happens organically in those conversations, that's pretty unique.

That doesn't happen every day.

That's really cool.

So I feel like just throwing your hat in the ring with this, you already win.

You already have a chance to really come out of this situation, benefiting with information

or connections or just friendships you might not have otherwise.

Exactly.

Did you experience that?

Did you feel that from the, through the rounds and the different competitions you've

been a part of?

I definitely do think I did.

I think it really started at state my first year of competing.

So when I was Mrs. Johnson Rapids team, I don't think I would have come back if I didn't

have such a great experience as I did.

Not only at state, but just with my overall year as Mrs. Wisconsin Rapids team, it truly

made me feel like I could embody the Miss Miracle organization and make a true impact

on other people, not necessarily just from Wisconsin Rapids, but across the state of Wisconsin.

And I think that's a big part of why I came back again to compete at Northern Lights

was to help people to get out in the community, to spread my initiative to more people, as

many people as I can.

And at state again this year, I had a great time.

And that's why I think I'm coming back again this year, which is exciting to go to state.

Because I truly think that no matter what, I haven't won state either of these years,

obviously.

I've made it very close.

I made it in the top five, both years, which is really great.

But I think the true success of this is being able to meet and connect with so many young

women across the state with so many aligning beliefs and values that they have and goals

that they want to achieve, were all very goal-minded people.

And I think it's really cool to all combine together at state and June and really get to

see how we interact with each other and help each other grow and push each other to be

the best that we possibly can be.

We're speaking with Mrs. Northern Lights of Ruby Marty and Ruby, we'll get into the

types of things that will be a part of the competition as far as different events in

there.

And what you would need to do for this.

But I did want to also mention that there is a scholarship that is involved in the $500

scholarship that the team will receive.

That's noteworthy too.

Exactly.

I've also had the opportunity to make over $3,000 in scholarships now just from the couple

years I've been involved in this organization.

So that's truly incredible, I think, especially at a 15 years old.

So it's really cool to see the opportunities that young women are being offered in the

American organization.

Every one of you guys that have come in are really good.

You're really good in the microphone.

You guys do a great job and some are more confident than others certainly.

But everybody comes in pretty well done.

You came in and were just knocked it out.

You did a great job and everything.

But I see you now and you come in and you are so polished.

You are so confident at this and just comfortable with it and everything.

I've been trying to throw you curveball questions and you're not going to mount not that.

To the point of this, there aren't many things, whatever you do next in life, you're

going to knock it out.

You're going to be great at it.

Whatever you do, the skills that you've learned in these last couple of years and through

these competitions are only going to enhance all of that that I saw that first time you came

in.

It's just kind of rounded out and smooth out the edges of some of these people's skills

or connections that we make.

Have you felt that?

Have you felt the kind more of confident in doing this stuff and going out there and everything?

I definitely do think I have, especially seeing my growth from doing the radios from

my first one that I ever did.

Maybe you guys didn't think I was a little iris, but I definitely don't think it was my

best one.

But from that, I've gotten to grow a lot and it's been really cool to see how much I've

been able to grow and how much more comfortable I've been coming to speak here with you and

it's been really great to see and then as far as going out in the community, I definitely

think I've gotten more comfortable with interacting with a wider range of generations.

I've always loved speaking to kids and speaking to kids my age, teenagers, little kids obviously

with my initiative, but I've definitely gotten more comfortable with speaking to adults

about a topic that I think I'm very well familiar with at this point now that I've been

able to advocate for early literacy for so long.

It's really great to feel as comfortable as I do now talking about that and the benefits

of early interaction and literacy with kids, two parents and teaching them the importance

of it instead of just feeling like I kind of have to stay in a shell and not really give

my voice and my opinion to people who are older than me.

Yeah, yeah.

I love what you said there and I wouldn't have thought of that part of it talking to other

generations, of talking to people in different age ranges and everything and getting more

comfortable with that and understanding how to talk to people in different age languages

and everything.

We all have a different kind of language that we use and tone and all that.

That's really unique, that's very interesting and these are the kind of three things that

you can fine tune and learn if you're a part of this competition, if you're a part of these

kind of competitions.

That's why we encourage people to be a part of them as much as we can and one of the fun

things about these competitions for the people shaking them in are the different parts

of the competition itself.

The features six misconceptions and 16 contestants from around the state and the contestants will

compete in a couple of different things.

I see a private interview with the panel of judges.

What other things will they be competing in?

So yeah, after a private interview, they're going to start their on stage competition and

the first thing that they will have is on stage question and then after that, they will

either they'll have fitness, talent and evening wear.

So my favorite phase of competition has always been evening wear, honestly, I really love

evening wear.

I've gotten to pick up a lot of really fun dresses over the years, so it's been really

cool.

I'm excited to see everyone's dresses at the competition this January.

It seems also another thing that can be very confidence building and also a great experience

of being able to go out there and do these different events, these different things as

part of the competition.

Each one of them helps a different skill set if not many skill sets.

I love the idea of there is no, these kind of things in life where you can't lose.

Just being a part of the competition, you generally have one and there are plenty of benefits

to being a part of these things.

When it comes to the work that you guys have done as well, we've touched on some of that

and everything Ruby, but we also know that there is great work that can be done with the

organization.

We always want to encourage people to get involved with this, now maybe you are older,

maybe you are a guy, maybe any of these things and you think, well, how can I be involved?

Well, there is always volunteers.

We could always use volunteers with the Miss Northern Lights organization or keeping

in mind, by that I also mean the Miss Wisconsin Rapids, Miss Wisconsin Rapids, teen competitions.

Although these are so many of these organizations are, the lifeblood is volunteers.

Exactly.

And it helps out with these things.

Yes.

It gives us a chance to thank all of them and all the great people that are out there helping

with these organizations and the people we've mentioned already, Ruby, but also to anybody

out there listening, you could be, you could be put to good use with these organizations

and get some great volunteering in.

It's also not a bad idea for younger people out there.

Maybe you don't feel comfortable being a part of the competition yet, but you would like

to get your feet wet a little, maybe see what it's like and stuff.

By volunteering, you can kind of be behind the scenes a little bit while checking it out.

Mm-hmm.

Yeah.

I agree.

Ruby, are you all right if somebody out there is listening and their kid wants to maybe

reach out to you and ask some further questions and find out more about it on a personal

level?

Oh, absolutely.

Yeah.

I'm not only open to answering any questions because I truly think this organization helps

young women grow so much and not only just the endeavor of the Miss America organization,

but in all their endeavors, this has helped me in interviewing for jobs that I've had

the opportunity to work with and just life in general, communicating with people, getting

my point across, it's definitely helped me grow so much.

So I would definitely be open to answering any questions that anyone has.

And we certainly want to remind all you businesses out there that they are always looking for

more sponsors for these events.

I mentioned this all the time when I'm talking to people in the area of talking about marketing

in general.

One of the greatest things that you can do with your marketing dollars is associating

yourself with nonprofits.

And an organization like this that's doing such amazing work with their young people,

they're young.

They are the coveted audience that every marketing organization wants is your age range, Ruby.

You're a part of the Miss, they're going to see these things.

They're going to see your business, they're going to see your logo.

They're going to see that not only are they seeing it, but they're also seeing you supporting

these organizations.

And you can't put a dollar price on something like that.

It goes so above and beyond.

Ruby, as we're wrapping up here, is there anything you want to touch on when you can get

a chance to?

I would think the last thing I just want to say is if you're able to come out, just remember

January 11th, 4 o'clock at the Century Theater.

It was the time of the big snow storm, so I get it last year, you got a reason not to

come.

But this year, there's no excuse.

So show up, it's going to be a lot of fun.

And I hope to see a lot of you guys there.

Yeah.

Well, we're looking forward to seeing you there.

And again, congratulations on a great run.

You've done amazing things with this.

We're all looking forward to seeing what you do next.

You're going to be going on to do great things.

I'm not sure if this is the last time we'll get a chance to talk or not before the competition

or afterwards or not, but just in case, nice work, keep up the great work, and we appreciate

you.

Thank you so much.

If you want to find out more, go to missnorthanlites.com, missnorthanlites.com that is the website.

They also have a Instagram and Facebook pages encourage you to like those pages, support

them, share those posts that they have on your page.

You just might not know who's seen, who would see it otherwise.

And if you want to contact them, you can go to the website, missnorthanlites.com, otherwise

just direct messaging them on Facebook is another great way of doing it.

Again, Ruby, thank you for the time.

Of course, thank you for having me.

We'll have more Midday Magazine coming up for you right here at 975 FM, 1320 AM, WFHR.

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