My daughter, Ariel, has been given an incredible opportunity to represent Albuquerque on a national stage this November, and I’m hoping our friends, family, and community will help us get her there.

This summer, Ariel competed for Miss New Mexico in the Teen division at National American Miss, where she was named a semifinalist and received the Best Resume Award. This earned her a Golden Ticket to compete for the National All-American Miss title in Orlando, Florida this November. Since then, she has also been representing her hometown as Miss Albuquerque Teen.

As her mom, I’m incredibly proud of her desire to advocate for others and how she is embracing this opportunity with courage.

Ariel has developed a deep interest in women’s reproductive health, maternal mental health, and helping young women feel informed and empowered when navigating their own healthcare. She has served as an emcee with Kassy’s Kause at the Maternal Mental Health Summit and has volunteered at fundraising events supporting Nevaeh Living, an organization working to provide safe maternity housing and support for women affected by sex trafficking.

As an extension of her platform, she is also beginning a podcast, The Woman Behind the Symptoms, centered on women’s reproductive health, where she hopes to speak with researchers, educators, advocates, and women with lived experience about issues that are often misunderstood, minimized, or simply not talked about enough.

With my own background as a former NIH research fellow, one part of Ariel's journey that I am especially excited about is the STEM project she is preparing.

In addition to the required National All-American Miss competitions, Ariel has chosen to participate in NAM’s optional STEM competition for the iAM Camille Schrier STEM Award (named after Camille Schrier, who won Miss America 2020 after performing a live chemistry demonstration on stage). Optional competitions are judged separately from the overall title, so this is an extra project she has taken on because of her genuine interest in psychology, neuroscience, and research.

For the NAM STEM competition, Ariel is conducting a 21-day repeated-measures experiment examining how different short stress-regulation techniques affect the body, the brain, and a person’s perception of stress after a stressful task. She is measuring physiological recovery using heart-rate variability (HRV) with a HeartMath EmWave, cognitive performance using a Stroop task, and subjective stress ratings. Her goal is to explore which interventions help the nervous system and cognitive performance recover most effectively after stress.

She will analyze the results and present the project as part of her pursuit of the iAM Camille Schrier STEM Award.

Getting Ariel to Nationals, however, comes with significant expenses. Funds raised through this GoFundMe will help cover costs associated with the trip:

• National competition and sponsorship fees: approximately $1,200

• Hotel accommodations in Orlando: approximately $2,000

• Travel to and from Orlando, including fuel, meals, and overnight hotel stops: approximately $1,200–$1,800

• Competition wardrobe, alterations, and related expenses: approximately $1,500

• STEM project and presentation materials: approximately $100

Altogether, we expect the cost of Ariel’s national competition experience to be approximately $6,000-$6,600, well above our $4,000 fundraising goal. Our family will be covering a significant portion ourselves, and every contribution will help make the remaining expenses more manageable.

We know there are many worthy causes people can support, and we do not take any contribution for granted. Whether you donate, share Ariel’s fundraiser, connect her with someone who may want to support her work, or simply cheer her on, it means more to our family than you know.

Ariel was born here in Albuquerque, and it would be incredibly special to watch her walk onto that national stage carrying the name of the city she has always called home.

More than anything, I hope this experience helps her continue becoming the kind of young woman she is already working hard to be: curious, compassionate, courageous, and willing to use her voice for something bigger than herself.

Thank you for being part of Ariel’s Road to Nationals. ❤️

~Kristen