Press Release from Earth Pageant Productions:

Earth Pageant Productions was presented with an opportunity to select the representative to the 23rd annual World Miss University Pageant. We are very excited and honored to announce that Cat Taylor-United States Miss Air 2010 will be traveling to Seoul, Korea where she will compete the title of World Miss University.... 54 countries are expecting to participate in this annual event, in which college or University students come together in the name of peace and charitable work.

Cat is currently a senior attending University of Oklahoma, majoring in Meteorology, and hopes to become a network meteorologist and teach child earth science.

We are pleased to present this opportunity to another national Miss Earth United States Delegate. Good Luck Cat. We are proud of you!

Earth Pageant Productions

-2011 national candidates are now being accepted. Contact us today and learn how you can participate in the 2011 United States Earth pageants.

Miss United States Earth 2010 Summary

The Miss United States Earth pageant was the most profound pageant experience I have ever had. In short, the pageant broke boundaries and stereotypes. The "Pageant Patty" didn't exist. Every girl was encouraged to be herself. The words "cliche" and "fake" were replaced with "real" and "natural". I have never been more comfortable or had more fun at a pageant! The Miss United States Earth pageant was an amazing experience! I am so honored to have represented Kansas!

Day 1
After hours of travel I arrived at the Tropicana Express Hotel and Casino in Laughlin, Nevada. I immediately checked in to my hotel and met my roomie Miss Teen Central Montana. Our first event was Orientation and then Dinner with 50 smart and gorgeous ladies!

Day 2
After waking up early (4:30am) I got ready for the day. First, it was official group photos at the pool. Then, we went across state lines to Arizona to Mohave High School where we had a tree planting ceremony. Then, we rehearsed....a lot! During rehearsal we took our official pageant head shots with pageant photographer Andres Gonzalez. For dinner, we got in our cocktail dresses and went to a "judges meet and greet" where they told us that the judges were late because of flights. They said to let loose and have fun. It was a great night.

Day 3
Our first event of the day was our "Glamorously Green" Colorado River Cleanup. My team picked up a full bag of trash! Then, US Earth Pageants had an environmental rally. We called and asked General Mills to stop using SinarMas palm oil. (the excessive clearing of palm fields releases CO2 into the atmosphere, it is a greenhouse gas that can accelerate the the greenhouse effect contributing to global warming). Apparently General Mills got the hint :) After a few more rehearsals it was time to get ready for preliminaries! We strutted our stuff in swimsuit and evening gown and some competed with talent.

Day 4
Our final day of the pageant started off with interviews. It turned out that the judges had been around the whole time incongito! I had already talked to almost all of them, though there were a few new arrivals. Our pre-interview was my favorite part of the pageant. We all went in groups into the interview room all wearing the same thing and NO MAKE-UP. We were judged on our confidence in our own skin! It was so refreshing. Then, we were individually interviewed about ourselves and our environmental awareness. I got to talk about climate change and my platform "Be Aware, It's in the Air", so I was extremely happy :) But we had a surprise...we had ten minutes to look through recycled clothing set out in piles for an opening number outfit! It was a scramble, but I found a something that suited my style quite well. Then it was time for the big event!

4 crowns are awarded. Miss US Earth, Air, Water, and Fire. Earth being the top title, the three remaining elements are the runner ups.

After recompeting in swimsuit and evening gown, I was named in the top 10! We then had to answer an onstage question and judges made their decision....

I had the honor of receiving the award of Miss Photogenic and I was named Miss United States Air 2010!!!

I am so honored to have been in the presence of these amazingly smart and beautiful women that have talent and a passion for the environment! I came away from this pageant experience with a new confidence in my cause and a bunch of new friends! :) The pageant was a challenge physically (with the late nights and 4:30am mornings and don't forget the oppressive heat) and mentally (changes in schedule and reality show-like surprises), but it reinforced the concept that a pageant queen has to always think on her feet! Overall, this pageant was the best pageant experience I have ever had and I would not hesitate to be apart of the US Earth pageant system again! Thank you to everyone who believed in me and helped me make my dream a reality.

Love,

Cat Taylor
Miss United States Air 2010

Final Day of Nature Unleashed Camp

It was our final day of Nature Unleashed Weather and the Environment Camp. Today we started out with a demonstration of the University of Oklahoma School of Meteorology's portable phased array radar called "Bobdar". The kids were able to get "radiated" (don't worry it's less than a cell phone's radiation) and test it on themselves moving around the room. After our usual snack, their parents arrived to check out camp. Dr. Kloesel Dean of Public Education and Outreach (the genius behind the camp's activities) taught the parents that meteorology/climatology is just as hard as if they were forecasting invisible children. Then, the kids were able to teach their parents everything we did this past week and show them their turbines and hurricane houses.
Among hugs and maybe a few tears, the kids went home to parents who have to put up with lectures from their kids about wind turbines, storms, and hurricanes :)

I had an amazing time this week. I learned more at this camp than the kids did. This was definitely the highlight of my summer. I really feel like I was able to make a difference in their lives by maybe changing their career paths. I feel that I made a positive impact on the community for getting these kids interested in being a scientist.

Lastly, I want to thank the Clinton Presidential Library and Museum for being a gracious host. It is really an honor to be an invited scientist. I would also like to thank Dr. Kevin Kloesel and the University of Oklahoma College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences School of Meteorology and the National Weather Center for offering me this enormous opportunity.

Nature Unleashed Camp Day 4

Today was a very hands-on engineering day for the kids. We did two activities today that were so amazing! After the activities I starting hearing, "I think I want to be a meteorologist when I grow up" or "Wind energy engineering sounds really cool!". It was a major triumph for our camp! I believe we are planting the seeds of our future in the young minds of our campers.
We started off with a homemade wind turbine. The kids had to make a spinning turbine that could convert 5 mph of wind into the movement of blades with only a Styrofoam ball, Popsicle sticks, tongue compressors, and spoons! We had a camper get his turbine to spin over 32 mph!! Apparently we have many budding engineers in our group. Then, I got to have a discussion with them about how wind is CLEAN and RENEWABLE! It will always be there for us to harvest, all we need is better technology to move it to big cities and better turbine designs. You never know the next big turbine engineer could be from our camp :) I also got to mention that Kansas is one of the best states for wind farms because of our rural abundance of land and how Kansas is the third windiest state in the US.
Hurricane Houses was our other activity for the day. The campers (including me) got to design a house that could withstand 102 mph winds (which came from a handy leaf blower). They were allowed 4 Popsicle sticks, 2 sheets of paper, 2 feet of tape, glue, and a straw. It turns out that all you need is a good design. Roofs have to be firmly attached and so do the foundations. We learned that if houses along the coast were being built to withstand hurricanes there would be less fatalities and loss of property.
Overall it was an amazing day! I hope you like my action-packed photos from today.

Nature Unleashed Camp Day 3

Day 3 was a complete success! Today we taught about hurricane Katrina and toured the museum's exhibits. Among the exhibits we got to go in a hurricane simulator, but we measured wind speeds (as all good meteorologists do) and it turns out it was more like a "tropical storm" simulator topping out at 54 mph. We also saw a garage door from the wreckage of Katrina. I got to teach the kids about the circulation of a hurricane (counter clockwise and inward) and what to put in a disaster kit.
We also checked out the earthquake exhibit and learned about the primary and secondary waves created by quakes.
Our hands-on experiment was "cloud in a bottle". By using a two liter pop bottle, hot water, smoke, and decompression we created a cloud in a bottle.

Nature Unleashed Camp Day 2

Today was an amazing day! We focused on what makes wind and how it mixes. By using whole milk on a plate (air), food coloring (to make it visible), and dish detergent (sun) we created an experiment that replicated our atmosphere (in a sense). The detergent/sun creates a chemical reaction with the milk/air that causes the milk/air to swirl and mix. The kids found out that the food coloring/pollution/volcanic ash will mix all over the worlds air and turn it murky brown. So, no matter what spot you have pollution it will eventually mix into the whole atmosphere. They also thought it would be fun to watch me demonstrate centrifugal force with the brown murky left-overs of our experiment, but of course I start laughing and splashed my foot :(
We also taught them about earthquakes with icing, fruit roll ups, and grahmcrackers. They were very well versed in earthquakes, because they live close to the New Madrid fault line and they learned about it in school.

I also had the chance to tour the museum yesterday and took pictures today. The museum has a replica of the oval office and EVERY document that belonged to the Clinton's during Bill's Presidency. It is SO cool and the architecture is AMAZING!

Chase, The Tornado Chasing Wonderdog, came and visited us at camp. He is the official mascot of VORTEX@ (Verification of the Origins of Tornadoes EXperiment). He has been on many storm chases and has met many important people. I was honored to be able to snap a picture with Chase and former President Bill Clinton :)

Nature Unleashed at the Clinton Presidential Museum

I have been a busy bee getting ready for the Miss US Earth pageant. My duties as Miss Kansas Earth 2010 include spreading the word on my platform ("Be Aware, it's in the Air"). I was extremely lucky to be presented with an awesome opportunity from the University of Oklahoma's College of Atmospheric and Geographic Sciences to outreach to children about weather in Little Rock, Arkansas at the Clinton Presidential Center and Museum. A summer camp program well named "Nature Unleashed" is for middle-school-ish aged kids to learn about natural disasters and how humans react to them.

Today is Day 1 of camp and we learned tons! We used a rubber mat to see if the kids could lift it off the table from a hook in the center. They learned when they couldn't lift it up that air has mass, and on a 10x10 inch mat it amounts to about 1600 pounds! Next, we simulated the updraft in a thunderstorm with a hair dryer (updraft) and a ping pong ball (hail). Then, we used windbags to teach Bernoulli's principle. An air cannon (trash bin, shower curtain, and bungee cords) was a favorite of the boys, who were fighting over shooting a cup off my head with air. And of course, we couldn't leave out the forecasting lesson, which teaches them that air is invisible and it is really hard to forecast when you can't see it. Last but not least, we made cool waterspouts in pop bottles which taught the kids the importance of pressure.

Well that is all for now, and I will write back tomorrow for Day 2 of camp :)