Seaman's Madison Wabaunsee is National All-American Miss Jr. Teen: 'I had worked so hard'

Do it for your dad, Madison Wabaunsee thought as the bright lights and eyes of a ballroom of people shone down on her.

For years, the Seaman High School junior had competed in pageants, and even before that, she tagged along as her older sister Ishta competed — and even won state titles — herself. Madison still vividly remembers her first pageant as an 8-year-old, after seeing how much Ishta enjoyed the process.

"It was a train wreck," she joked. "I didn’t know how to interview, I didn’t know how to speak. I insisted on picking out my own gown, which was a pretty terrible mistake in elementary school."

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The girls' father, James Wabaunsee, often took the girls to their pageants, serving as their escort for the formalwear portion of the competitions. But after he died in 2015, Madison was not sure how to continue.

She kept competing in state pageants, but despite her hard work, she felt stuck.

"After years and years of being first runner-up to the Miss Kansas title, I’d felt so defeated," Madison said. "I was confident in myself, and each time, I’d put out my best effort out on stage in front of the judges, so hearing my name be called as first runner-up for so many years in a row, I had almost given up on myself."

Last-minute decision led Madison Wabaunsee to National All-American Miss Jr. Teen pageant in Orlando

But throughout eight years in pageantry, Madison felt reluctant to leave something that had so deeply shaped her life, and something that she had shared with her mother Natalie, sister and dad. Competing in pageants — particularly the National American Miss system — had given Madison her work ethic, her drive and her poise.

"It mostly brought out who I am inside," Madison said. "I hadn’t known what I wanted to do, and I never structured myself, so in being able to compete, present myself and make a bunch of new friends, I was able to discover who I am, who I want to be, and how pageantry can help."

So at the last minute, the high school junior decided to compete, entering the All-American Miss Jr. Teen age group at the National American Miss pageant in Orlando last month. There, she not only competed but also made friends with several other girls from around the U.S., learning dance routines and walking patterns while rehearsing for the pageant's judged portions over the course of a week.

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In the National American Miss pageant, contestants are judged on how well they show grace, poise and elegance in an evening gown; their public speaking and presentation skills in front of an audience; and one-on-one interviews with each of the judges.

"People misunderstand what pageantry is," Madison said. "People find it objective to women, but it most definitely is not. If anything, it gives women more strength and empowerment, because you find a group of girls who you end up calling sisters because they’re there to support you and help you be your best self."

Madison Wabaunsee is first Indigenous queen in National American Miss pageant

For all her hard work, Madison had already resigned herself to simply do her best and enjoy the pageant — never expecting to advance too far.

But at the end of the competition, only she and another girl remained on the final stage, and as the announcer named the other girl as the runner-up, time slowed for Madison as she came to the realization that she had won a national title.

"It all worked out. I dropped to the floor, and I started crying," she said. "It had meant so much to me, because I had worked so hard for this title over eight years, and my first title with the system was a national one."

Soon, the National All-American Miss Jr. Teen was mobbed by her mom, sister and coaches.

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"It just still feels unbelievable and unreal," her mom Natalie Wabaunsee said. "She’s put so much work into this, just in developing herself and doing the community service, all while keeping up on her schoolwork. Knowing she’s done all that and still went up and did well — it’s just surreal."

As a member of the Prairie Band Potawatomi and Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma nations, Madison is also believed to be the first Indigenous person to hold a title at the competition.

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Coming from a school district that is largely white, Madison said she's often been in situations and places where there are not a lot of people who look like her, and that by winning the title, she hopes to serve as a trailblazer for other Indigenous girls.

"Eight-year-old me could not have imagined this," Madison said. "I grew up seeing all of these national queens and this national royalty on my screens at home. It’s crazy not only to believe that that’s now me, but that I get to be that role model for the next generation."

A national pageant queen, Madison Wabaunsee keen on continuing community and school service

With her title, Madison received a prize package, which her mother Natalie estimates is worth about $200,000. She'll also continue to a national photo shoot in January with the 17 other girls and women who were named queens in their categories at the pageant.

Apart from serving as the reigning queen and crowning her successor next year, Madison will complete 75 hours of community service as part of her duties, although she expects those will be easy to meet, since she already regularly volunteers at Topeka-area organizations like Harvesters and the Topeka Rescue Mission.

When she graduates, Madison hopes to attend either the University of California-Los Angeles or the University of Kansas as part of a longer journey to one day be a neurologist. As a young girl, Madison suffered from severe migraines, and she was always left puzzled by a lack of women who could help her.

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"Patients feel more open and comfortable with female doctors," she said, "and to know that there aren’t a lot of women in the medical field, we need more advocacy there, and we need more representation."

Anna Smith-Garcia, a Seaman High Spanish teacher who has worked with Madison through the school's Equity Action Network, said that in the three years she has known Madison, she's blossomed from a shy, soft-spoken girl to a school leader who uses her voice to advocate for herself and others, in large part because of the confidence she's gleaned from pageant competition.

"Wherever Madison goes, she will shine a light," Smith-Garcia said.

Even over a week after the pageant, Madison still sometimes has to remind herself that she won, and that her hard work was validated.

But she also thinks to her dad, and how proud he would be to see that his daughter, "some random girl from Topeka," could become a national pageant queen.

"It shows how Midwest girls are strong, and a lot of us placed top five or top 12 (in our respective age groups)," she said. "I think people underestimate us, because a lot of title winners come from bigger states like Texas or California, so to be from Topeka, Kansas, and win really means a lot."

Rafael Garcia is an education reporter for the Topeka Capital-Journal. He can be reached at rgarcia@cjonline.com or by phone at ‪785-289-5325. Follow him on Twitter at @byRafaelGarcia.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Native American Topeka teen wins national American Miss pageant title