Miss Emery visits schools to promote her platform

By PATSY STODDARD Editor

Miss Emery Sydni Ekker traveled to all the schools in Emery County to perform and to leave them with a message. Positive Self-Image is the platform Ekker has chosen to promote as Miss Emery. She will attend the Miss Utah pageant in June.
Miss Outstanding Teen Paytn Jeffs invited girls to try out for the Miss Outstanding Teen pageant on June 6. She said she had a great experience at the Miss Utah Outstanding Teen Pageant. She was able to perform and she made great friends with the other girls. She was a runner-up in the competition and won the fitness award.
Her platform was Motivate to Move and she encouraged the students to eat healthy and to get some exercise and be active. She said she wasn’t always motivated to be active, she would wear heels to PE so she wouldn’t have to run laps. She hosted a camp for kids where they participated in a lot of activities to get them moving.
Ekker said, “Girls as young as elementary school start being afraid to be fat. We need a certain percentage of fat to be healthy. Even men too can have a poor self image. Negative self talk is a problem. Think positive thoughts about yourself. Don’t think negative thoughts. If negative thoughts pop into your head, then push them out with positive ones. Don’t say anything about yourself that you wouldn’t say to your best friend.
Think of three positive things you like about yourself and tell them to yourself every day.
Ekker showed a video of a little girl talking to the mirror, telling herself everything that was great about her. Begin each day with a self pep talk.
“Stop using skinny as a compliment and compliment people on what’s within, their personality and what they do to serve others.
“Boys can have problems with self-image too. What if they aren’t muscular? Focus on being healthy. Don’t tell yourself that you aren’t smart. Tell yourself, you are awesome, you are enough just the way you are. Love yourself, you are unique.
“Be friends with everyone, be with people who lift you up and see your good qualities. Be a friend that lifts others up.
“As Miss Emery I want to help other people. Be their friend. Don’t compete with your friends or compare yourself to others.
“Be media smart. Media photoshops images to make the model look better, don’t compare yourself to that photoshopped image. No one has a perfect body or face. Eighty percent of women say that media makes them feel insecure. Forty-one percent of girls age 6-8 years are already concerned about their weight,” said Ekker.
Miss Emery told of a young girl in third grade who thought she was fat. She saw people on TV. She thought you had to be skinny. She thought she was chubby, had big ears and freckles. She had an obsession with weight. She would only eat between 800-1,000 calories a day. She wanted to be a model, she had an obsession with image and perfection. She had negative thoughts, she missed out on opportunities at school, for sports teams and school offices. She had no confidence or self-esteem. When she went away to college she figured out she didn’t have to be perfect. She could change herself and the way she talked to and about herself. She could look at what people are like on the inside. It took a long time.
People with low self-esteem are more prone to depression and eating disorders.
Miss Emery told the students the little girl in the story she told was her. She said she missed out on so many opportunities. “It’s a struggle, but think good things about yourself. Be whoever you want to be. I wanted to be Miss Emery so I could come and talk to you to tell you not to be like that. Be healthy and take care of your bodies.”
Junior Miss Emery County Brooklyn Johansen and Little Miss Brynn Lindley performed dances. Canyon View Principal Jim Jones thanked the girls for coming and sharing their messages and talents with the students.