NEWS RELEASE:

Southeast Elementary second grader Kaydynce Ruddick was crowned Mini Miss Kansas this past May, and on Friday August 8, she was crowned All American Girl Mini Miss Royalty at the national competition in Portland, Oregon.

“I am so proud of my Kaydynce,” said mom, Trisha Ruddick.  “Our blonde hair, blue eyed, freckle faced country girl from Southeast Kansas went to Oregon and competed against girls who go every year trying to get that title and she won it.”

Mom said Kaydynce is excited to have won and is honored to receive the recognition, and while she knows it will provide opportunities to do new things she doesn’t fully understand the importance of the title.  Next year Kaydynce will go to Las Vegas to crown the next national Mini Miss and secures her college scholarship fund.  Each participant can have a different state platform, but at the national level all participants have a platform of autism.

“She cannot compete in any pageants for a year unless they are charity only events.  She has to make appearances and take a lot of pics but I think this will be good for her to get her to open up quicker to people.”

During the weeklong competition in Oregon, Kaydynce participated in casual wear, beauty wear, attended parties and dinners with the judges so they could monitor her off stage behavior, as well as an interview.

“The little girl who had a hard time speaking in class just did an on stage intro of herself and also won Best Intro,” mom said.  “Kaydynce practiced hard, looked amazing in beauty, was flawless on her modeling.  (She) did excellent with saying her speech and in casual wear.  She pulled Top 5 and had to recompete again – after doing so she won Nationals.”

Mom said Kaydynce had been bullied in the past at her former school district and that caused her to “shut down”.  Kaydynce asked mom if she could do pageants and was initially told no.  But after a little research and seeing pageants can help build confidence, mom decided to let Kaydynce try it.  Last week’s pageant was her ninth event in nearly two years.