Everyone’s a princess
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| Abie Wallace of Tiskilwa joined three other Bureau County girls at the seventh annual Miss You Can Do It pageant, held in Kewanee June 26. The pageant is designed for girls and young women with special challenges. Abie wears hearing aids, which she can decorate, like with the pink butterflies shown here. (BCR photo/Barb Kromphardt) |
KEWANEE — Once upon a time, in a land not so far away, a group of not-so-ordinary girls and young women were turned into princesses.
It was a magical time with pretty clothes and handsome escorts, and where the idea of eating pizza with Snow White and Cinderella — well, that just fit right in, too.
On June 26, Micah Harris, Marisia Matsko, Abie Wallace and Alexandra Dabler, along with 34 other girls and young women, were swept up in the excitement that is the annual Miss
You Can Do It pageant.
The seventh annual pageant is the creation of Abbey Curran, who started the pageant in 2004 to give girls and young women with special challenges an opportunity to experience a true pageant experience. Curran, who was born with cerebral palsy and is a former Miss Iowa, and a group of volunteers transform Petersen Auditorium at Kewanee High School into a place where every dream can come true.
At 4 years old, Micah, daughter of Leandra and Justin Harris of Princeton, was the youngest contestant.
Micah had a great time.
“I ate pizza with Cinderella and Snow White,” she said. “And I made friends with Abie and Angelina and Angie.”
For Leandra, part of the appeal of the pageant was to give her daughter the opportunity to meet other children with cerebral palsy, Micah’s challenge.
“She met a little girl from Bloomington who has cerebral palsy and is right-sided hemiplegia, too,” Leandra said. “I think it’s important to know there’s somebody else just like her, and she’s not the only one that’s different.
Leandra was pleased the pageant wasn’t a typical pageant, but rather a celebration of each girl.
“It was so much more about letting them be themselves,” she said.
Every girl comes home with a trophy, and Micah also received the People’s Choice Award and second runner-up in the Little Miss You Can Do It competition. The Harris family donated the cash prize that came with the People’s Choice Award back to the pageant to help cover some of the costs.
“It’s a good thing,” Leandra said. “It’s an awesome experience for little girls who maybe otherwise wouldn’t shine, to be able to shine and have their moment.”
And Micah’s planning on returning next year.
“I love that show,” she said smiling from ear to ear. “I want to do that again.”
For Abie, daughter of Kim and Tom Wallace of Tiskilwa, it was her second time at the pageant.
Abie, 7, also liked the pizza party the best.
“You got to eat with the princesses,” she said.
Kim said the pageant is a very positive thing for all the girls.
“They don’t see disability,” Kim said. “It’s all about ability, and it what it does for these girls’ self-esteem.”
Abie has a 55 percent hearing loss in both ears and wears hearing aids. She also has poor depth perception. Kim said challenges like these make the pageant especially appreciated by the parents.
“It’s really good as parents ... to talk to other parents who have children with disabilities and challenges to share stories and ideas and to know that we’re all in this together,” she said.
In the Little Miss pageant, Abie won for having the Best On-stage Answer. Each girl was asked what they wanted to do when they grew up and what their plans and dreams were.
“I said I wanted to be a missionary or a teacher,” Abie said. “My biggest dream was that I could go to Walt Disney World to swim with the dolphins.”
Kim said many pageants are overrated, but the Miss You Can Do It pageant is a positive thing for these girls.
“For these girls, it’s not all about winning,” she said. “It’s about making friends.”
Also participating in the pageant for the second year was Marisia, daughter of Amy and Todd Matsko of Sheffield.
“We met Abie at the 2008 Sheffield carnival, and Marisia went over and talked with her and just fell in love with her,” Amy said. “She said to me, ‘Look what she can do, Mom.’”
Amy said the first year at the pageant was harder for Marisia, 8, who has cerebral palsy.
“She was very shy and wouldn’t talk to anybody,” Amy said. “But going through the whole experience last year ... made a huge difference in her life.”
Amy said Marisia now is more outgoing and confident.
“My daughter has changed 200 percent in confidence and speaking,” she said. “In school it was a huge change, and you know, school’s not the easiest. There’s some kids that aren’t very understanding.”
Marisia won the Little Miss You Can Do It portion of the pageant last month, and Amy said her daughter wants to return next year.
“We believe in the pageant 100 percent,” she said. “It is wonderful for these girls to have something. The whole day and the night is catered to these individual girls, and they do feel
like princesses.”
Amy need only look at her daughter to see how valuable the pageant is.
“She’s getting confidence to feel that she can do it, that she can do anything,” she said. “She’s not a quitter. From Day 1, she always fought, and she never gave up. This now shows her anything’s possible.”
It’s not just the little girls who compete, though. The pageant is open to young women up to age 25. It was the first pageant for 16-year-old Alexandra, daughter of Dawn and Jerome Dabler of Wyanet.
For Alex, as she prefers to be called, the best part of the pageant was being a princess.
“My dad calls me princess,” said Alex, who has Down syndrome.
In the Miss pageant, Alex won Best Interview, and for her wish, her answer was solemn.
“I wished for my grandma to be alive,” she said.
But the rest of the pageant was nothing but fun. Alex and her mother went to Chicago to buy her a dress, which was black, purple and pink. She was also happy her “best buddy,” Justin Smith, was able to see her at the pageant.
But the most fun was being on-stage.
“I walked, kind of like the fashion models,” Alex said with a big smile. “That was fun.”
And fun is what being a princess is all about.
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