Miss Wantagh Court Candy Gram Campaign

Grace Massari, Reporter

This town, Wantagh, provides a different opportunity for every person living here. For me, I continued a 65-year old tradition: Miss Wantagh. This past summer, I had the honor of being crowned Miss Wantagh 2020. I get the “What does Miss Wantagh do?” question often. I usually answer with  “Making connections, using a voice for my peers, and getting involved in the community.” People often misunderstand the meaning of the tradition. The Miss Wantagh pageant is about beauty on the inside, not on the outside. Being a part of the organization allows me to obtain life skills and experiences I will hold near and dear for the rest of my life.  My court is filled with five amazing girls who are always there to help out. We make our way around town while getting to learn more about what we can achieve. 

I’m always trying to think of ways the Miss Wantagh court can act to do better by the community and make a difference. It’s a different year as everyone knows, due to the dark cloud of COVID-19 lingering over our heads. We are limited with what we can and cannot do. This past month, I knew I wanted to do something with Valentine’s Day. I am also involved as a teammate to raise money on a team towards “LLS,”, the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society. What’s better than having money raised towards LLS on behalf of the Miss Wantagh Court? I thought about it until it hit me. Let’s do candy grams throughout the school! 

Candy grams are messages people can send to their friends. They can make it fun and mysterious by not saying who it was from! This year, the candy gram messages were sold one week, and the lollipops with the messages were distributed the following week. I talked to the principal and organized everything. I then contacted my court and spoke to the girls who were able to help sell the candy grams. Because of the two different cohorts, it was harder to get the word out, but we tried our best by using social media and our voices. In the main lobby, we set up a table during the lunch periods. We then went into the lunch periods and announced how we were selling candies grams for $1 each and the proceeds were going towards a good cause! The crowds came forward and the sales began!

I’m happy that the court and I were able to maintain COVID-19 safety, while bringing joy to our peers. The best part was knowing that the money spent on buying each candy gram goes towards an amazing fundraiser. That makes everyone feel kind-hearted in the end!