Model Students: Hannah

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Six-foot-tall redhead Hannah Blazek is hard to miss. She radiates confidence.

“I think some people are a little bit intimidated by me,” Blazek, the sophomore transfer student, said.

Considering Blazek’s background, that may be understandable. Her confidence and poise has helped her become a beauty pageant champion, professional model, and reality television star.

The story that ultimately brought Blazek to Hillsdale, however, begins with an awkward middle school nightmare.

“Well, let’s rewind several Hannah years,” Blazek laughed when asked about her pageant background. “My first experience was in middle school in Indiana. I competed twice with terrible dresses, the biggest overbite, and my hair…” Blazek paused in embarrassment, “well, let’s just say that when I look at the pictures I have to question what my mother was thinking.”

Several years later Blazek tried again her sophomore year of high school.

“This time I went to a pageant expert and got the right dress, the right interview suit, the right speaking skills and I competed and I won,” she said. Blazek was crowned Queen in 2010 in the Miss. Nebraska Junior Teen division.

“I then went on to nationals, and to my surprise I finished 3rd in the nation,” Blazek said.

She received other awards in the same competition including top model and top actress in the nation, as well as the spirit award winner, an award that her fellow competitors voted to bestow upon her.

Not everyone was thrilled about Blazek’s success, though. Students in her high school mocked her about her new titles.

“People would say things like ‘where’s your crown today, Hannah?’” Blazek said.

Blazek felt that she was being unfairly judged based on negative stereotypes of pageants.

“There was no bathing suit competition, no sexy walk: it was all about academics, interview skills and stage presence,” Blazek said. “So their comments really hurt, and hurt me enough that it got me to quit.”

Though Blazek stopped competing, she said she couldn’t stay away from her passion.

“I decided that instead of competing in high school again I wanted to take a back seat and help other girls,” Blazek said. “So, I decided to apply at the place that made my dreams come true, and I got the job.”

Blazek began working at The Winning Crown Boutique in Omaha, Nebraska her junior year of high school selling dresses to pageant hopefuls. It was here that she got her chance to make her debut into the world of television. After the Winning Crown Boutique custom designed the dress that Miss. America 2011 wore when she won, media attention focused on the store.

Pie Town Productions, the production company behind hit show “House Hunters,” approached the boutique’s owner. Soon a show was in the works. WE tv network, known for Bridezillas and CSI:Miami, picked up the show shortly after.

The show was filmed during the summer of 2011 and began airing on Aug. 2 of this summer.

“Every show the viewers would see us dressing pageant girls, helping them try on and pick the dresses,” Blazek said. “Then we would follow some of those girls to the actual pageants to see how they did.”

Blazek said the line between reality and showmanship was often blurred, with the intense production schedule demanding that the truth sometimes be flexed.

“‘Real’ is a very strange word,” she mused with a wry smile. “Sometimes we would have to bring in multiple outfits because they were changing clothes to match different days. ‘Change your hairstyle back to what it was this day.’ It was scene work. Otherwise it just would have been an unorganized mess.”

Blazek’s roomate at Hillsdale, sophomore Macaela Bennett, got to experience Blazek’s insights first hand as the show aired.

“It was a lot of fun because she was able to say ‘oh I was thinking this’ or ‘the producer told me to act this part,’” Bennett said. ”It gave a real insight into reality tv.”

Though the story began with a focus on the dresses, Blazek said that tension between employees quickly became a predominant theme.

“Essentially it was a very diverse group of people,” Blazek said. “And that diversity creates conflict.”

Despite the flaring tempers, Blazek believes she generally kept her cool.

“My description on the website is ‘the fiery, filterless, 6-foot redhead,’” Blazek said. “But I would say that by the end I turned out to be the most level-headed and realistic person on the show.”

After Blazek finished her summer filming the show, she went to Miami State University where she completed her freshman year.

Blazek said that the school definitely lived up to its reputation as a party school.

“I have distinct memories of my next-door neighbors snorting things, and I was just like ‘this is not my environment,’” Blazek said.

Associate Director of Admissions Fred Schebor met Hannah when she applied and came to be a big proponent for her transfer.

“She’s feisty, in a good way,” Schebor said. “I like it when people are confident but not arrogant. She is confident but playful. She is a thinker.”

Though the transition to Hillsdale has been drastic in some ways, Blazek feels like she is meant to be here.

“I’m a nerd at heart,” Blazek said. “I actually feel more at home then I ever have.”

Blazek said she that in the past year she has gained a confidence and self respect that she lacked during her high school years.

“I’ve discovered what I want out of life, and that isn’t University of Miami,” Blazek said. “I gained a lot of respect for myself because I was able to stop myself from wasting time.”

That confidence led her to begin the process of competing in pageants again.

“I want to get back into pageantry, have respect for it, and surround myself with people who respect it,” Blazek said. “I think I’m definitely more confident in all the good that can come from pageantry.”

Blazek plans to begin competing in the Miss. USA competition within the next year, but she revealed that her next appearance on the national stage will come even sooner than she anticipated.

“I’ve actually just been invited to fly out to Omaha Nov. 1, 2, and 3 to MC a national pageant for the American National Teenagers Scholarship organization,” Blazek said. “I was just like ‘wow.’ What a reminder of all the good that can come from this.”

When asked what she would say to the teens who harassed her about her choices in high school, Blazek paused. She finally responded, “I would say that I think they need to be careful of how easy they allow their perceptions of people to come out. Because you don’t really know what’s happening in someone else’s life. We all just need to be more aware.”