The Journey of a Lifetime

Dear friends,

Before I head to the Miss America Pageant on Thursday, I want to take what may be my last moment as Miss Kansas to share with you the impact the Miss Kansas Organization has had on my life, and how truly blessed I am to be representing all of you as Miss Kansas 2009.

As I reflect on the memories I’ve made and the relationships I’ve been so fortunate to foster through the Miss Kansas Organization, their sheer abundance makes it difficult to choose a suitable place to begin. From an early age, I came to love the pageant not because of the glitz and glamour associated with the crown or the contestants, but because it had played such a prominent role in my family’s history. Growing up, my parents were actively engaged in the organization, and since the pageant would always coincide with my birthday, each year my “gift” was a backstage pass to the pageant! Instead of watching from the audience, I had the unique opportunity to get “up close and personal” with the contestants, to interact with them and to learn from their experiences. I will never forget walking on stage with the contestants during their rehearsal and eating lunch with the many volunteers, but perhaps most distinctively, I remember meeting and getting to know the current respective Miss Kansas on a very personal level. In June of 1993, I got the chance to meet Pam McKelvy the week she would crown the new Miss Kansas. Upon our acquaintance, she knelt down to me, looked me straight in the eye and said “Hi Becki, I've heard a lot about you.” I was so shocked—I couldn’t believe she knew who I was! The following year I cheered on a family friend of ours, Trisha Shaffer, who then became Miss Kansas 1994. From that moment onward, I knew I wanted to be Miss Kansas, too.

I never fully grasped the impact the Miss Kansas Organization would have on my life until I began competing at age 19. I had always known that I wanted to make a difference in the world I lived in, but never exactly understood how I wanted to go about making that impact. As a contestant, I was given the opportunity to stand up for something I believed in, promoting the arts in schools, which I chose as my platform. I also learned that in order to take a stand for the arts, I also had to understand and accept who I was as a woman. Thanks to the Miss Kansas Organization, I am not only proud of the person that I am, but proud of the person it has helped me become—a stronger, more focused, driven and refined woman.

To me, the role of Miss Kansas is not about the tangible benefits many outside observers typically associate with the crown—serving our great state as Miss Kansas is about the overwhelming intrinsic worth that comes with being a servant, a role model and a representative. Being Miss Kansas is about providing children with inspiration, adults with motivation, and the elderly with encouragement. Every day is an opportunity to meet new people, share my story with them, and show them the bona fide, genuine beauty that is the Miss Kansas Organization. It's about wholeheartedly giving yourself to each and every community you visit; It’s about treating every single person you meet with the same warmth as the last, regardless of who they are or where they are from. Truly, the “power of the crown” lies in the opportunity every Miss Kansas has been blessed with to change others’ lives for the better, all the while improving her own life.

I would be overjoyed to represent our beautiful state at the national level as Miss America 2010, and can promise you that I will put my whole heart and soul on the line while competing, giving it every bit of energy and strength I've got. But if I don't win, I will proudly return to Kansas, ready and eager to serve the wonderful people of our state until I hand the job over to the next winner in June. Whatever may happen in the next three weeks I will handle with grace, in part because of all of you.

Thank you for your endless support. I am forever grateful.

Bless you all,

Becki