Name:Amanda Debus

Hometown: Middletown, Delaware

Education:Middletown High School

Everett Meredith Middle School

Silver Lake Elementary School

Gallagher Elementary School

Platform Issue: SAFETY - Safety & Fire Education for Today's Youth

Scholastic/Career Ambition: I plan to earn a Bachelor’s degree in business administration and child psychology and to utilize the combination of these skills to own and operate a successful dance studio.

Talent:Dance Twirl routine to the Entr’acte from the Broadway musical Sunset Boulevard.

Scholastic Honors: National Junior Honor Society; Scholastic Honor Roll; Honor Roll Student every semester in Middle School and High School; Nominated for French National Honor Society (decisions posted Fall, 2008); Who’s Who Among Middle School Students.

Leadership Roles: Middletown High School Student Council Historian; Middletown High School Marching Band Featured Twirler; Baton Team Captain (Premier Center for the Arts); Dance Team Captain (Delaware Dance Unlimited Studio); Student Dance Teacher, (Delaware Dance Unlimited Studio); Soccer Team Captain.

Accomplishments: Selected out of more than 60 dancers for the lead role in Delaware Dance Unlimited Studio recital; 2006, 2007, and 2008 Int. Junior Miss Majorette of Delaware; Triple Crown Strut Champion 2005; Placed 6th in Dance Solo at AYOP (America’s Youth On Parade) Nationals; Miss Delaware’s Outstanding Teen 2008; Miss Junior Teen New Castle County 2008; Miss Teen Diamond State 2007; Miss Junior Teen New Castle County 2006; Participated in Volunteer Hose Company’s “Controlled Burn”; Certified in first aid and CPR.

Interesting Facts: I am a fire fighter with the Middletown, Delaware Volunteer Hose Company, most recently helping assist in a five-alarm dairy farm fire; I have danced for eleven years; I have been baton twirling since the age of three, competitively since the age of five; I won my National Baton Twirling Association Advance Strut at Twirlmania, a world-open competition in Disney World in February 2008; I performed in the 2005 Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tennessee with the Beach Boys; I performed in the 2008 Orange Bowl Half-Time Show in Miami, Florida with ZZ Top; I performed in a Philadelphia 76ers pre-game show and half-time show, in the Boscov’s Thanksgiving Day Parade in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the Beale Street New Years Parade in Tennessee, and in the Main Street Parade in the Magic Kingdom in Walt Disney World; I have traveled to the Caribbean, Puerto Rico, Mexico, and most recently France and Italy; I played an entire soccer season, as an undefeated goalie.

Marketing Plan: As a fire fighter, and an over achiever in dance, baton, and scholastics, I feel uniquely qualified to promote Miss America’s Outstanding Teen. I am a testimony to teens that scholastic achievement, creative accomplishment, physical fitness, and service to others are the heart of Miss America’s Outstanding Teen. I plan to work with fire companies and schools nationwide to advance my platform, SAFETY – Safety & Fire Education for Today’s Youth, to reduce the number of dwelling fires across the country. I also plan to advocate support of the Children’s Miracle Network. Many victims of dwelling fires are children, and it would be my privilege to be a voice for those victims as well as an ambassador for Children’s Miracle Network.

Legacy:At the end of my year of service as Miss America’s Outstanding Teen I hope to be remembered as a teen that believed that if you can dream it, you can make it happen. Fire fighting is not the typical teen aspiration, but as a teen fire fighter I believe it proves that if you work hard, you can achieve anything. I further hope to be remembered for educating children about fire safety, and how they could help save their family from a house fire.

Why I should be Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2009: Throughout my life, I have dedicated myself to excellence in academics, talent, and service to others. This life-long preparation has led me to become Miss America’s Outstanding Teen 2009. I believe that my role as Miss America’s Outstanding Teen will allow me the tremendous opportunity to expand my fire safety platform far beyond my community and my state, and will help save lives nationwide. By becoming a teen female fire fighter, I have not only “talked the talk,” but also “walked the walk.” I am a testimony to making a commitment to make a difference, and then believing that you can.
Name:Amanda Debus

Title:Miss Delaware’s Outstanding Teen

SAFETY - Safety & Fire Education for Today's Youth

For as long as I can remember, I have admired my father’s dedication and service to our community as a volunteer fire fighter. I have watched him rush from home many times, ready to risk his life to help others. My respect for my father’s concern for others was inspiring, however, the death of a neighbor in a house fire was my ultimate inspiration to become an active member of the Volunteer Hose Fire Company in Middletown, Delaware. The effect of fire personally touched my life one chilly winter night two years ago. A report came across my father’s fire radio announcing that there was smoke showing from a home not too far from our own. I looked out the window to see glowing flames towering over my neighbor’s home. My mother and I went out onto the street and watched as the flames slowly devoured the top floor. Neighbors along the entire street watched helplessly and many were crying. My father was on duty that night and called to advise us to go into the house because there were subjects trapped in the house. He did not want us to witness the devastation, however, there was no way I was leaving. I felt a need to be there, to help in any way I could. That night my neighbor and her pets died in the fire. The pain of that fire stayed in my heart, and from that moment I knew I wanted to be a fire fighter. I wanted to help save lives while working with my favorite mentor, my father.

In 2006, 3,245 civilians lost their lives, and 16,400 civilian injuries occurred as the result of fire. Eighty-one percent (81%) of all civilian fire deaths occurred in residences. By becoming a fire fighter and an advocate for SAFETY, Safety and Fire Education for Today’s Youth, I am determined to decrease those numbers. My plan is to work jointly with fire companies nationwide to diperse at-home fire safety kits to as many elementary and middle school students as possible. The kit I have developed includes a self-created age appropriate fire escape plan booklet, an age appropriate fire safety booklet, smoke detectors with batteries, and carbon monoxide (CO) detectors. With these tools families can increase the liklihood that they may save themselves and their homes in the event of a house fire. My fire safety presentation also includes a rewards program for students who excel in their fire escape plan or fire safety coloring project and are my “Fire Safety Stars.” In my community I have partnered with McDonald’s to provide gift certificates for these fire safety student stars. I further plan to implement a National SAFETY Rally Day, utilizing each state’s Outstanding Teen title holder, her local fire company, and her local elementary and/or middle school.

If I am privileged to be chosen as Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, I would utilize the title as a stage to educate America’s children and teens about fire safety and how simple safety measures can save a life. I plan to promote my SAFETY platform nationally, working in unity with fire companies and schools, targeting middle school students while maintaining and furthering the current fire safety programs in elementary schools. I also plan to encourage teens to serve others, perhaps in ways they may not have imagined. I live in a community made up mostly of fire fighters and their families. If you were to ask most elementary or middle school children in my town about their dreams and ambitions they would respond that they would like to be a firefighter and emulate their parents, just as I have. While this may not be the most ordinary aspiration, it is not an impossible one and one of great importance.

I am a testimony to teens that they can become anything they aspire to, even a firefighter. I have found that my transformation from a teen wearing a crown to a teen wearing a fire-fighting suit makes quite an impression. My sincere goal as Miss America’s Outstanding Teen is to inspire young adults to get involved in their communities and help save lives through fire safety education. If I can save just one family from a house fire in each state, I know my plan will have made a difference for at least fifty (50) families. At the end of my year of service, I would be proud to say that I had inspired others, made a difference, and saved a life.