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Virginia Beach student in Miss Teen USA contest looks to raise awareness for kids with disabilities

Virginian-Pilot - 7/23/2017

July 23--VIRGINIA BEACH -- Madison Walker is trying to do what no other Virginia teen has ever done.

The 17-year-old will be competing for Miss Teen USAJuly 29 in Phoenix, Ariz.

She was crowned Miss Virginia Teen USA 2017 in November. It was her first time in a pageant.

She entered for scholarship money and to raise awareness for people with disabilities, which continues to be her mission. Her twin brother, Bryan, has Down syndrome.

"I want people to see that kids with disabilities can do whatever they put their mind to," Madison said.

In her junior year at Cox High School, she took five advanced placement classes and had a grade point average of 4.2, her mother, Tina Deni, said.

"At night, instead of texting and watching Netflix like I would like to, I would set aside an hour where I'd finish all my work and if I didn't finish it all in that hour, I'd wake up early and do it then," Madison said.

She's also busy getting ready for the national teen competition. The commonwealth has never had a Miss Teen USA, according to the Miss Universe Organization.

Madison works out four times a week -- twice at Natural Bodyz Fitness and twice at another gym, or runs 3 miles.

She has pageant training on weekends. It includes runway practice with a drag queen and mock interviews with her mother's friends.

Madison also reviews politics on Mondays and Thursdays with a former tutor, Kellam High School teacher Matthew Gutt, to prepare for questions from judges.

"(It's) just less sleep some nights," she said.

Her brother has been by her side for all of it. Bryan's looking forward to going to Arizona and holding up a cardboard cutout with a picture of Madison's head, like he did for Miss Virginia Teen. He's also looking forward to dressing up in a suit and tie.

"It made me happy that he's been trying to help out," Madison said. "Whenever he comes to the gym, he makes it more fun. He says he's doing it to get a girlfriend."

He also wakes her up every morning and brings her a cup of water because she's supposed to be drinking it constantly, she said.

"He helps me be relaxed while I'm rushing through things."

Bryan has also handed out flyers to support his sister and traveled across the country with her.

"He's definitely maturing from this," Madison said. "He's starting to embrace that he's different."

She was slated to speak at this weekend's International Best Buddies Conference at Indiana State University. She works with Best Buddies, a Washington, D.C.,-based nonprofit that prepares people with intellectual and developmental disabilities for workforce integration and independent living.

"I want people to see that kids with disabilities can do whatever they put their mind to," Madison said.

Bryan planned be on stage with her in Indiana, she said. "He see's himself as Madison's partner in this," their father, C.J. Deni, said.

As the national competition nears, Madison said she's looking forward to representing Virginia, seeing her brother in the stands and showing off her hard work.

Her biggest fear?

"Probably tripping."

She did it at the November contest.

But she still won.

___

(c)2017 The Virginian-Pilot (Norfolk, Va.)

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