As her reign slowly comes to an end, Miss New Jersey's Kaitlyn Schoeffel (Miss America 2nd Runner Up) isn't slowing down in her efforts to support kids in our area with the desire for performing arts!

Miss NJ has traveled throughout our great state to visit countless schools and community organizations, speaking to children about her platform and scholarship opportunity. She advocates for her platform called "Operation Empowerment", which consists of two main components: 1. To expose children to the performing arts through live theater 2.  To raise funds to scholarship students in our area to take lessons in the performing arts. The goal of Operation Empowerment is to give all children, regardless of their economic status or ability, exposure and access to the performing arts. In which case, Kaitlyn has decided to put together a Magic Show with her boyfriend, Mentalist Wayne Hoffman, in the efforts to sell tickets and raise money to go towards the scholarship!

Kaitlyn has donated some fundraiser tickets to the Atlantic City Boys and Girls Club, Big Brothers Big Sisters of Atlantic County, Atlantic County special services school district, and all of New Jersey’s children’s specialized Hospitals.

In return, Wayne is also donating his ENTIRE show, so all of the proceeds from the evening will benefit the Operation Empowerment scholarship fund.

In order to apply for the scholarship, Students must write a one page essay simply explaining why they want to take lessons in the performing arts. If the child is too young to write an essay, then they can draw Miss NJ a picture depicting their aspirations as a performer. The scholarship submission deadline for this year is May 15, where the winners  will be announced on June 1. The winners will also be invited to attend the Miss New Jersey pageant and will be presented with their scholarship on stage the week of Miss NJ!

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