Stage Fright
From MemoryArchive
Who: Courtney Crume What: Stage Fright When: June 2006 Where: State Teen Conference
One obstacle I had to get by was my stage fright. For 4-H I made a jacket and skirt as a sewing project. I won our county and area levels so I got to go to the state level and compete at 4-H Teen Conference in June at the University of Kentucky. When our outfits were judged I was in the top 12 so they were re-judged and we were interviewed while we were wearing our outfit so they could select the top 5 finalists. Then we found out that we had to model our outfits in front of everyone at conference! I was already nervous about how my outfit did for judging but the thought of modeling in front of everyone made me really nervous!
We started practicing our modeling in our shoes that went with our outfit. High heels are not very good shoes to walk in. Then we found out that we got escorts. My escort, who I developed a crush on, was sixteen years old and his name was Jordan. (Later I found out that Jordan had a crush on me too!) When we modeled we had to walk across the stage, turn, walk back across, turn, then go down steps then we were finished. One girl actually fell off the steps when we were practicing!
Thursday night was the night of the fashion revue, talent show, election of officers, the ball, and the last night at teen conference. When Thursday night finally came I was fine until I got behind stage waiting to be escorted on. I was having a lot of fun but the closer it got for me to go on I grew more and more nervous. Then I was next to go on. Jordan came and took my arm, ready to escort me on and I said, “I am so nervous, I don’t want to look dumb and trip or fall onstage in front of 500 people.” Jordan replied, “You’ll do fine, you look beautiful, and besides I’ll catch you if you fall.” We walked onstage and I modeled my outfit not thinking about how nervous I was but thinking about what Jordan said, I’ll catch you if you fall. On our way down the steps Jordan said to me, “You looked perfect, great job.”
When it was time to announce the 5 top finalists, everyone got quiet. They called the names: one name, two names, three names, four names, then the final name…It was ME! I went back up onstage to accept my award. I saw Jordan smiling at me and I smiled back at him. Later that night at the ball Jordan asked me to dance! Even if an obstacle is put in your path, you can always overcome it, even if it takes a little help from someone else.
