Aug. 14—A welcome home meet-and-greet is planned for Elkhart’s Brighton Bedre, the newly crowned Miss Ultimate USA Princess 2024. She was crowned in Orlando, Florida, in July.
The event is set for 4-5:30 p.m. Aug. 22 at Firehouse Ice Cream & Coffee Cafe in Elkhart. It is a come-and-go after-school event for photo ops and pageant information.
“This was a brand new pageant,” said Christine Bedre, Brighton’s mother. “It has been tagged as one of the fastest growing scholarship systems right now. It’s huge.”
Brighton competed against more than 30 contestants, ages 7 to 9, from across the United States for her crown, modeling and participating in events and activities, including state wear, interview and evening wear.
“I didn’t think I was going to win,” Brighton said. “I was literally standing backstage crying for her because she won and thinking I wasn’t going to win because they had already crowned another girl from Texas.”
Brighton said the hardest part of the contest for her was learning the new walking routines.
“There were girls younger and older than Brighton in this competition,” Christine said. “The girl that got first runner-up was actually older than Brighton and she had been a national queen before, too. She had a lot of really good competition. There were quite a few girls that were older than her in this competition.
“So, she’s really starting to develop her runway walk as she’s moving up in age. She’s not walking like a little kid anymore.”
Brighton said she enjoys interviews and won the Overall Junior Division Interview, which was 40% of her overall score.
Brighton’s winning package, including a $5,000 scholarship, is valued at $400,000. The Elkhart Princess also received a billboard in Hollywood, California, during the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA pageants. She will also appear on a billboard in New York’s Times Square and walk in Krissy King, Supermodels Unlimited and House of Barretti fashion shows during New York Fashion Week in February.
She will also get to take a five-night cruise with her family and go to Disney.
Brighton said her favorite gifts were her Louis Vuitton backpack and her Kendra Scott necklace.
Brighton began participating in pageants when she was younger, but caught the bug in 2021, winning Petite Miss East Texas in Lufkin.
The pageants that her parents said they choose for her to participate in are competitions that promote age appropriate, natural looks with contestants competing in categories that include casual wear, gown, fun fashion and interview.
In 2021, Brighton received several other pageant titles, including 2021 Petite Miss Rodeo, 2021 Petite Miss Autumn Fest and Supreme Queen Ages 4 through 18 years old, 2021 Little Miss WinterFare, Miss Fall Frolic Supreme Queen 2021, and 2021 National America Miss Texas Top 10 finalist. Brighton was also the 2022 Miss Texas Elementary America First Grade and the Miss Elementary America Second Grade 2023. She crowned a new representative for the title for 2024 in Little Rock, Arkansas.
With aspirations of one day being Miss Texas and Miss America, Brighton said she takes her pageant work seriously, practicing with two coaches, one for modeling and one for interviews. She has also participated in judging pageants, making public appearances and being a featured guest in parades.
For her community service project, Brighton collects used, unwrapped or wrapped broken crayons and sends them to the Crayon Initiative, a non-profit dedicated to recycling crayons to preserve the environment and assist the lives of hospitalized children through art and imagination. According to their website, used crayons are not biodegradable but create a waxy sludge in landfills. The Crayon Initiative sends free crayons to over 240 hospitals across the United States.
A collection box to help Brighton collect used crayons can be found at Cotton Patch in Palestine.
Brighton has also picked up litter at parks, visited the residents at the Elkhart Oaks Care Center, filled the book rack and blessing boxes at the Firehouse Ice Cream and Coffee Cafe in Elkhart and the Blessing Box at St. Philip’s Episcopal Church in Palestine.
Brighton also received a presidential service award, not related to the pageant, for serving over 100 volunteer hours. She was chosen as an International Finalist for the Young Eco-Hero Award for her continued crayon collection work and helping protect the planet. She has also been nominated by Elkhart Elementary the past three years for the Texas Education Agency Student Hero Award.
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Publish date : 2024-08-14 16:59:00
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