“I can't stress enough how many doors have opened and how I've grown in the process,” said Johnson of the past 12 months. “I can only hope that whoever is Miss North Dakota 2007 can have just as wonderful of an experience as I have had, and that she shares a part of herself, her unique characteristics and personality with the state.
“It's is going to be a very difficult, bittersweet week for me,” she said of passing the promise of a fulfilling year onto one privileged young woman.
“It will truly be an experience of a lifetime; I hope she runs with it.”
A “TRICKY” START When Johnson was a senior in high school, she was told of a great scholarship opportunity by her career counselor at Fargo North High School.
“She told me, ‘There's an interview portion to make sure you're well qualified for the scholarship and there's also a talent part,' Johnson said of her career counselor. “She left it at that and I later found out that I was enrolled as a contestant in the Miss Fargo pageant.”
The following week, Johnson's career counselor asked her, “Would you have ever competed in a pageant if I would have told you that this scholarship opportunity included pageantry? I said ‘no.'”
After being crowned Miss Fargo in March of 2004, Johnson went on to win the interview portion as well as the swimsuit preliminaries in the 2005 Miss North Dakota pageant to be named first runner up.
After completing her first year at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minn., where she chose to double major in chemistry and psychology - with the intention of entering medical school - and minoring in music, Johnson decided to try again at the Miss North Dakota title, since she had come so close.
“I competed at another local and won Miss Red River Valley, advancing in June 2005 to Miss North Dakota. Now, 12 months later, I've had the greatest experience of my entire life.”
THE HIGHLIGHT
Without question, Johnson said the highlight of her reign has been touring the schools across the state of North Dakota. To date, she has touched the ears and lives of 50,000 students, with that number to increase as she wraps up her touring this month.
“You decide, ‘I'm going to give a year to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,' and you just hope that the year is fulfilling,” she said of going into her reign. “It's been an amazing school tour. It's been so great that I've gone back to a number of schools more than once this year. And more have invited me back next year as a motivational speaker.”
Johnson said she has not experienced one school tour that has been the same this year, to which she dedicated spreading her message: the importance of blood donation. And, nearly every day the past 12 months, she has met someone who has been affected by blood donation. Johnson helped organize blood drives within the schools throughout the year with the assistance of her national partner, United Blood Services.
CHOOSING A PLATFORM
“Since I was 17 (the legal age to donate blood in North Dakota), I've been working on this platform,” said Johnson. “It's what I'm passionate about.”
Early on in life, Johnson established an aspiration for a career in the medical field. She was inspired to get involved in blood drives and blood donation. Her senior year in high school, she helped set up a blood drive with United Blood Services as a student council project.
“I thought, ‘What a wonderful way to band together and save lives,'” she said. “I thought we should be doing more of this.”
Now able to recite statistics on the need of blood around the world, nation and state, Johnson said she has a new realization of the importance of blood donation since she started her platform three years ago.
“I wanted to take my role and help others become more aware as well,” she said.
To young women who may be aspiring to pageantry and prestigious scholarship opportunities, Johnson had the following advice on choosing a platform:
“It definitely has to be a message that the contestant is passionate about,” she said. “You're going to spend 12 months in schools around the state and Midwest talking about it; you dedicate a whole year to spread awareness. (Miss America) is the biggest scholarship organization for women in the entire world, so you're not only representing North Dakota, but also the scholarship organization. And also, hopefully, you're partnered with a national organization as I have, the United Blood Services, to take that message even further. It's a full-time job that can be a wake-up call - one that I've enjoyed - and has to be something that you're excited about raising awareness.”
MOST MEMORABLE MOMENTS
In a year filled with influencing people and life-changing experiences, Johnson was able to pick out two moments from her year as Miss North Dakota 2006 that she said stood out as being towards the top of her most memorable moments.
One involved the life story of 7-year-old twins named Haley and Logan, who were born severely premature. Their mother now works at United Blood Services.
“They were in need of many blood units and Logan also needed surgery at two weeks of age,” Johnson explained. “I asked if I could use their story in the tour to help raise awareness.”
With the twins' mother, Johnson wrote the story to present. Photos of the babies were blown up and used as visuals.
“To see a picture of these babies that fit in the palm of a hand and whose dad could slip his wedding ring up to their shoulder, and then to see an after picture seven years later... it was amazing how that impacted kids.”
That feeling reached its height for Johnson when she was invited to speak at Logan and Haley's elementary school in West Fargo.
“To see the looks on the faces of their classmates and teachers who had no idea that these two individuals would not be here today if it weren't for blood donors, and then to see the results in their school blood drive, which had a wonderful turnout, really made me stand back and say, ‘What a great story.'”
The other story Johnson told of was from an area high school where she was invited to present on refusal-making skills when it came to peer pressure and decisions.
“Two girls stayed after to open up and share stories they had told no one in their entire life, about sexual abuse or being pressured to do drugs and alcohol. That they felt I was approachable, and that they could open up, share, cry, get advice and keep in touch was a great honor.”
She said both girls have kept in touch and are on a positive track.
“Just making one difference makes the year worth it,” she said.
THE MUSIC
Music has always been a passion for Johnson. She learned to play the cello in the Fargo North school system, and performed with the All-State Orchestra all four years of high school. Naturally, Johnson's skill as a musician made for a classy addition to talent portions of pageants.
The piece she performed at Miss America was a funk/rock piece, as she explained, that she had never taken on previously because she felt it was too difficult. However, some “tinkering” on it led to a self-taught piece that was complete.
“I took one private lesson before I went to nationals,” she said. “I taught it to myself as best I could.”
Johnson said performing her talent while representing North Dakota on stage in front of 8,000 people live and 22 million television viewers was an unbelievable feeling.
When she returns to school in the fall, she will rejoin the symphony at Gustavus Adolphus College and give cello lessons.
FINDING MORE OF HERSELF
A girl who never took a speech class before, Johnson said she has uncovered a hidden passion over the past 12 months - public speaking, namely, to children.
“To get in front of a group of kids and hold their attention for three hours and have a good time doing it... I never imagined that would be something I would like so much.”
Johnson said the experience has been so positive that she has thought twice about her career path.
“I'm very driven and I always knew I wanted to be in the pediatrics and medical field. But taking the role of a motivational speaker has been a secret passion I never knew I had. When you get a taste of the real world, it makes you ready for more.”
A sophomore next fall, Johnson said she will return to Gustavus Adolphus to finish her double major, although she will experiment with an education course.
“I believe my dealings with people this year has taught me much more than eight to ten years of college could teach me.”
THE NEXT CHAPTER
At the passing of the crown to a new Miss North Dakota 2007, Johnson won't be settling into an everyday routine. The past year has opened up several doors and opportunities that will keep her busy next year as well, from traveling and performing on her talent, the cello, to public speaking.
She most likely will have more time to spend with her family, however. Her father, Gary, who had the honor of escorting his daughter in the evening gown competition in the Miss America pageant, is an account executive for Newman Outdoor Advertising; Mother, Caroline, a homemaker who is also “a botanist at heart,” said Jacqueline. “She got selected for a pretty prestigious garden tour”; sister, Cassandra, 15; and sister, Lauren, 4, to whom Jacqueline is also the God mother of.
“Watch out North Dakota,” Jacqueline said of her little sister. “She already walks around the house in high heels with her nails painted pink and a cell phone!”
Through the eye-opening experiences and life-changing moments, to the red carpet parties and star-studded treatment during the Miss America pageant, Johnson never faltered in her job representing the state of North Dakota.
“Thank you so much North Dakota for the honor of representing you,” she said to the state's residents. “It was an experience of a lifetime.”
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