Committing to Confidence - a Guest Blog Series by Katelyn Andrist

This is a guest blog from Katelyn Andrist, embracing her SII: Commit to Confidence: Envisioning A More Confident You! I hope you enjoy it.

I feel sad. I feel lonely. I feel misunderstood. I feel like I am done here. I feel like I am growing…..

Without feeling empty inside, we can’t have room for new things to bloom. When we see an empty space, we immediately want to fill it up with bigger, better, and stronger things. Now - this is the time to grow and fill your empty space with new things. At your lowest, you will feel like you are the problem. You start to blame yourself, and you let others affect your light in this world. Stop. Take a deep breath. You are not the problem.. The problem is you have outgrown the life you had created around you. Let go, and stop trying to fix everything around you. “It is not your responsibility to help people grow” - Biggest life lesson I’ve ever learned. You can not force or entice others to grow with you when they do not DESERVE to be in your circle. Read that again. The key word is deserve. You are entitled to learn, heal, be loved, and grow - sometimes this personal development will happen without those people. Open your heart and take action. Take your power and peace back. YOU have the power to create the future you want and deserve. I pray you find people, love, places, and things who promote this growth for you. Help grow you into the person you are meant to be. 

Trust in yourself. 

Trust in God. 

Say this with me, 

I love myself.

I am growing, 

I am healing. 

I am making mistakes. 

I am a human being. 

Fill your empty, darkest, and lowest room full of love, light, and peace."

-Katelyn Andrist  

I want to thank Katelyn for sharing this post. 

Committing to Confidence - a Guest Blog Series by Katelyn Andrist

This is a guest blog from Katelyn Andrist, embracing her SII: Commit to Confidence: Envisioning A More Confident You! I hope you enjoy it.

Look at this picture. Is there something wrong with it? 

The answer is simply no. Beauty is not defined by society only you. I see no difference because beauty comes from within. Let this be a reminder that makeup only enhances our true beauty from within. 

"The Sun does not ask permission to shine and neither will I."

-unknown 

Please let this be a reminder you are beautiful just the way you are every morning when you wake up! Only you can define beauty!

You are beautiful!

- Katelyn Andrist 

I want to thank Katelyn for sharing this post. 

Committing to Confidence - a Guest Blog Series by Katelyn Andrist

This is a guest blog from Katelyn Andrist, embracing her SII: Commit to Confidence: Envisioning A More Confident You! I hope you enjoy it.

“To me, beauty is about being comfortable in your skin. It’s about knowing and accepting who you are. One day I had to sit down with myself and decide that I loved myself no matter what my body looked like and what other people thought about my body.”
-Gabourey Sidibe 

Loving yourself is the greatest revolution. Your weight does not define your worth. You are enough. You are absolutely beautiful. The problem is not with your body, the problem is what you think of it... and what you think of yourself. Stop being so hard on yourself, your mind and body. I am not here to show off my body but to show you I am comfortable in my skin

Body.
A four letter word we let determine our whole life.
On repeat in our minds “Am I skinny enough?” “Am I beautiful enough?” “Why does my body look like this?” “I hate the way I look.”

Remember, everybody is beautiful. Your body is beautiful! Your body doesn’t determine you or your life! Your body and you are not defined by numbers on the tag or scale! It's up to you to tell yourself and others that! You only have one body, love your body unconditionally! Fuel yourself with love and peace of peacefulness! Consume healthy thoughts and food! Exercise hate and negativity off of you. This all starts with you! Cut off toxic and negative people in your life! I promise once you do you will glow and shine brighter than the sun.

It’s okay if your body is changing, that's a normal part of life for a man or woman.
Your body is changing every day just like you (:

With 2022 it’s time to love our bodies wholeheartedly and be comfortable in our skin!! With my life changing, going off to college and dancing less I can see a change in my body but I still love my body. I understand your frustration and know where you are coming from! I am finding new ways to keep myself happy and healthy! I did and I can say I love my body and I feel beautiful in my own skin! You can do the same! The small things add up! I promise you when I say your body is beautiful and everything will be okay. Don’t be so hard on yourself or your body. love your body. you only have one. one mind. one heart. one soul. one body. You are loved and wanted."

- Katelyn Andrist 

I want to thank Katelyn for sharing this story. 

Happy Tenth Anniversary K. Garcia Productions!

What an incredible accomplishment! Today marks the ten year mark for K. Garcia Productions, and the woman behind it all Kelsey Garcia Witzgall!

Over that time, K. Garcia Productions, has been a true asset to Section 36. Not only has Kelsey taken some pretty outstanding photographs of Forevers but she was actually an interview guest herself! I'm honored to feature so much of her work, in so many places throughout the Section 36 suite of blogs.

Below, you'll see just a few of the times K. Garcia Productions has made Section 36 a better place.

Congratulations!

Allie Curtis

Elizabeth Pierre

Elizabeth Pierre

Allie Curtis

Elizabeth Pierre

Elizabeth Pierre

Jackie O'Keefe

Bridget Oei

Cassandra Pinataro

        

Committing to Confidence - a Guest Blog Series by Katelyn Andrist

This is a guest blog from Katelyn Andrist, embracing her SII: Commit to Confidence: Envisioning A More Confident You! I hope you enjoy it.

25% of Americans admit to feeling lonely in the last month
66% say that having a close relationship with other people is always on their minds
In a room full of people we can still be lonely. Our minds are a beautiful creation with lightning and thunderstorms. We have to remember to grow, we must feel pain. We need to be struck by lightning to have realizations of ourselves, life and other things going on in our life. We need rain to grow and heal our hearts, minds, souls and more. Choose people who give you rain not thunderstorms. You have the power to give yourself growth or lightning. Please choose growth every time. I promise in time everything will get better and make sense.
Let yourself grow and bloom into the person God created you to be(:

You matter.
You are loved.
You can do anything you put your mind to.
You are you.
Special.
Important.

Don’t let your thunderstorms cloud your mind because you are beautiful. You have a purpose in this world.

- Katelyn Andrist 

I want to thank Katelyn for sharing this story. 

There's a New Miss Steel City in Town

Release from Miss Steel City

On April 2nd, 2022 the city of Pittsburgh welcomed their new Miss Steel City PA 2022, also known as Shakira Unique Jackson. Jackson recalls going with her mom to vote in West Philadelphia and noticing an age difference.

"You would see more seniors," she said. She infrequently saw younger adults staffing the polling locations" that is when she knew her social change journey was just beginning. 

Jackson is a senior studying history-political science and pre-law at the University of Pittsburgh, and her social impact initiative is "inspiring the next generation of voters." Jackson has worked very hard these past few years to increase voter turnout on her campus and in the Pittsburgh and Bradford area. Jackson's first-time as a poll worker was in 2020 as part of a national measure by the Campus Vote Project, a nonpartisan group that works to reduce barriers to student voting on college campuses. 

In doing so, Jackson, who is a Black and Italian American, joined a diverse group of thousands of younger Americans who stepped in as poll workers across the country during early voting and on Election Day.

According to the FiveThirtyEight politics survey with Ipsos of more than 8,000 Americans, people between 18 and 34 are less likely to have faith in our political system, but Jackson plans to change this with her social impact initiative.

Jackson currently serves as the President of the University of Pittsburgh at Bradford's Student Voting Coalition and has hopes to not only increase voter turnout but create diligent young leaders who understand the purpose behind fair redistricting maps and the power voting yields. "One of the prominent issues with voter education is the lack of knowledge," Jackson said. 

With the help of the Miss Pennsylvania organization, Jackson intends to reach a different audience and help citizens become aware of additional resources that could help increase the number of people educated about voter education. Jackson also hopes to increase the number of volunteers both within the Miss Pennsylvania organization and at the voting polls while also inspiring the next generation of voters to become civically engaged through the arts. 

Miss Steel City emphasized that expression and education is the answer to solving social issues and wants others to care about this issue because voting impacts everybody regardless of one's social status. 

One of the steps Jackson plans to take when she becomes Miss Pennsylvania is to create her own voting curriculum for educational institutions to utilize. Miss Steel City Shakira Jackson believes that communities of interest deserve to be represented fairly. Miss Steel City wants all higher education institutions to be considered a community of interest, given its importance to helping young voters create a pattern of lifetime voting and do their duty as American citizens. 

The city of Pittsburgh is proud to have such a strong, diligent and inspiring youth advocate, and we can not wait to see all of the work and service she pursues.

"Becoming Confident" - An Announcement from Katelyn Andrist

An announcement from Katelyn Andrist. I hope you are as excited as I am about  it.

I am beyond grateful and excited to announce I have written and published a Children’s Book, “Becoming Confident!" Becoming Confident tells the story of a young dancer named Lula as she takes on the journey towards discovering the beauty of accepting who you are and becoming confident in who you are meant to be! This book brings awareness on mental health, body positivity, anxiety, and difficult conversations about our insecurities! I have created this book to advocate, educate, and create a more confident future for an individual’s self-esteem!! 

This has been one of my biggest dreams and goals this year!!! This book has been in the making since November!!! I couldn’t have done it alone! I had an amazing team who stood behind me and helped my visions come to life!! Ava is one of co-authors and Sarah is the illustrator!! Thank you so much to the both of you for all your help, hard work, and endless nights together!! 

A big shout out to Mr.Rollin who brought my book to life!! He was just so sweet and such an amazing supporter!! The Kansas State University Printing was absolutely fabulous!!! KSU has supported me this whole year through my journey to Miss Kansas! I am so grateful! 

If you would like to purchase “Becoming Confident!” I have created a quick and easy way for you to purchase a book!! You can fill out this link down below!!! All proceeds 100% go towards the book and shipping!!I am so excited to share my heart with Kansas!!  When you buy one book the KSU printing will donate a book to our local churches, business, dance studios, schools, and more!!!! 

Cheers to what amazing things are ahead!! I know I can’t wait!!! 

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeU1PLsiV-ZF5G_tQVDQolNMaFMW8GXhLVntTzqZjwNYUVsxQ/viewform?usp=embed_facebook

Thank you so much!!! 

-Katelyn Andrist