by Peter Bodley
Managing editor

Miss America’s 2010 Outstanding Teen will be paying a visit to Coon Rapids this weekend.

Jeanette Morelan, 15, Racine, Wis., will be in town to take part in the Coon Rapids Junior Royalty Pageant and the Miss Coon Rapids Scholarship Pageant, both of which take place in the auditorium of Coon Rapids High School tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 6) as part of the 2010 Miss Coon Rapids Snowflake Days celebration.

But Morelan will be doing more than just attending the pageant during her weekend stay in Coon Rapids, according to Diane Buszta, Coon Rapids Snowflake Association president and director of both pageants.

Morelan arrived in town yesterday afternoon (Thursday, Feb. 4) and went to the Miss Coon Rapids Scholarship Pageant rehearsal at the high school in the evening.

Her itinerary today (Friday, Feb. 5) includes meeting Mayor Tim Howe at the Coon Rapids City Center in the morning after Morelan will meet, greet and help serve lunch to seniors at the Coon Rapids Civic Center.

Morelan’s day tomorrow (Saturday, Feb. 6) is taken up with both pageants, the Junior Royalty dress rehearsal and pageant in the morning and afternoon and the Miss Coon Rapids event in the evening.

Before flying back to Wisconsin Sunday, Feb. 7, Morelan is scheduled to attend the Snowflake Days Belgian waffle breakfast at the Coon Rapids VFW with the newly-crowned Miss Coon Rapids and Junior Royalty and possibly stop by the Mall of America.

In addition, there will be tours of “the sights and sounds of the city of Coon Rapids” when time allows each day, according to Buszta.

Throughout her stay in Coon Rapids, Morelan will be accompanied by Dianne Sarchet, who is part of the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization and her traveling companion on all Morelan’s trips throughout the United States.

Since she won the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen title in Orlando, Fla., in August 2009, Morelan has been traveling the United States promoting her platform, “The Power of One.”

According to the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Web site, Morelan said her platform aims to motivate and inspire people to realize that they have the power to dream, the power to believe in that dream and the power to act on that dream.

In those trips, Morelan has also been representing the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen organization, which emphasizes scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, healthy living and community involvement for the country’s youth.

Morelan has been working extensively with organizations such as the Children’s Miracle Network and the DARE (Drug Awareness Resistance Education) program and serves on the teen advisory board for the Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin.

She has also been interviewed on NBC, sung the national anthem at two National Hockey League games, shared her platform with over 130,000 people and helped raise over $35,000 for various charities.

According to the Web site, Morelan’s goal is to graduate as valedictorian from high school and attend Harvard University to earn degrees in political economy and government as well as law.

Her career ambition is “to serve my city and state in various public offices so I can learn about how government works and ultimately serve my country as president of the United States,” Morelan states on the Web site.

Peter Bodley is at This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it