Three Miss America sisters planned a little family reunion that culminated in the use of pageant skills, platform enhancement, and sisterly love. The project was a CD of exclusive trumpet tracks recorded by Becki Ronen Walenz, Miss Kansas 2009, for classical music students. The collaboration was essential.

When Becki moved to New York to continue her musical education, she was a small fish in a big pond. She’d never lived anywhere but Kansas, but since she did know Claire Buffie, Miss New York 2010, she didn’t feel so alone. Becki developed the idea for the CD through a class project.

“The music on it has never been recorded ever…I wanted to do music that nobody had really touched, that was music kids are playing today all over the country. I did a lot of research to make sure I was choosing music relevant to the kids all over the U.S. and all over the world,” Becki said.

But Becki needed help. She got in touch with Claire and asked her to be the photographer on the project. Claire studied movement to learn how to anticipate her clients’ body language and translate it onto film. She also has experience photography MAO titleholders, and she said her style captures a more relatable subject.

“I knew in the photo I wanted to look a certain way, nothing too crazy, but something that my Miss America class would be proud of. I knew, who better than someone who has been in my shoes than a state title holder?” Becki said.

The third piece to the puzzle was Jen Corey, Miss D.C. 2009. She was on scene the day of the CD cover shoot to get Becki’s hair and make up ready for her album look. Like Claire, there is a rawness to Jen’s technique in styling, and she wanted Becki to look as natural as possible.

For each of the girls, coming together to work on a project of this magnitude was meaningful not just because of its service to the students, but also because of the relationships that were strengthened between Miss America sisters.

“It was really important for me to help support the other girls because we share a bond like no other,” Jen said.

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