When Seckman High School student Madison Beck was crowned the 2021 America’s National Miss Teen, her fraternal twin sister could not help but cry.
Madison, 16, beat out 10 other regional representatives for the title and received her crown on June 12 at the Omni Atlanta Hotel at CNN Center.
After getting the crown, she made a heart shape with her hands and blew a kiss to her sister, Olivia Beck, who was seated in the audience.
“Seeing her smile and reaction, I almost jumped on top of a kid when I was screaming and clapping for her,” said Olivia, the starting goalkeeper for Seckman High’s girls soccer team. “I cried for the first time watching her on stage.”
Madison said she couldn’t see her sister’s enthusiastic response from the stage, but she later watched a video of Olivia celebrating.
“It was crazy. I thought she was going to collide with someone in the audience,” Madison said of her sister.
Madison said Olivia was the first person she encountered after leaving the stage, and the sisters shared more tears of joy.
“She is my biggest supporter and best friend,” Madison said. “Her getting to experience it with me is a big thing for me. She loves being there just as much as I love being on stage. My win was her win as well. We have named her my pageant manager because of how much she wants to be involved. I’m very lucky to have her.”
Sarah Beck, the twin’s mother, said Olivia’s reaction was almost as priceless as Madison’s victory. After Madison and Olivia had their moment together, their mother and grandmother, Pam Kerperien, 63, of Arnold joined the celebration.
“We all gave her that really big hug,” Sarah said.
After the family hug, Madison called her father, Scott Beck, who had watched the livestreamed event from the family’s Barnhart home. Sarah said her daughter’s first words to her dad were, “Hi bud; I did it.”
“It was surreal,” said Scott, 41. “I was watching it from home with a buddy of mine. Thank God the floor held. We jumped and screamed like schoolchildren when they announced her name.”
Dreaming big
It was Madison’s second national pageant crown and another step toward the lofty goal she set for herself when she was 5 – competing in Miss USA.
“She has always been the girl who loves to watch pageants on TV,” said Sarah, 41. “She came up to me and said, ‘I want to be Miss USA.’ I said, ‘OK.’ We looked into pageant systems and got her started.”
The first pageant Madison competed in was Missouri’s Miss American Coed pageant. She was 5 and was named the first runner-up.
“It was amazing when I did it the first time,” Madison said. “I was like I have to go back because I am a determined person.”
Madison returned to the American Coed pageant as a 6-year-old and won, which sent her to Orlando to compete in her first national pageant.
At age 8, Madison won her first national title – the 2013 Dream Girls USA Preteen.
Some of Madison’s other titles include Miss Heartland, Miss Central State and Miss Midwest in various pageant circuits, and she entered the national pageant in Atlanta as the reigning America’s National Miss Central States queen, a crown she won in October 2020.
She also was the 2020 America’s National Miss Missouri Teen, and in 2019, she was the Miss High School America’s Miss Missouri Junior High.
“I’m very lucky I get to do this because I love it,” Madison said.
Chris Saltalamacchio, a pageant coach based in the Atlanta area who has worked with Madison for about four years, said she can go as far as she wants in the world of pageant competition.
“She is very smart. She is very kind. She is very natural,” Saltalamacchio said. “She has developed very well. I think there is potential for her to be on Miss Teen USA and Miss USA stages.”
More than crowns
Madison, a member of Seckman High’s dance team, said she loves to perform, which helped lead her to the pageant stage.
However, she said the relationships she has formed with fellow competitors is what really makes the pageants special for her.
“That is the part of pageants I love the most, the people I get to meet and how close they become to me,” Madison said. “It is incredible how pageants have allowed me to meet people who I would never have without pageants.”
M’racle Bryant, 17, of Kansas City is one of the friends Madison has made through pageants.
Even though the teens live on opposite sides of the state, they keep in touch with each other and make every effort to be there for each other when they’re competing.
“People in competitions often only care about themselves, and Madison is not like that,” Bryant said. “Even though she is competing, she makes sure she has a good time, makes new friends and she cherishes the moment. I love being around her. She is an amazing friend. She is just awesome.”
Madison also is secretary of the Seckman High Student Council and is a member of the National Honor Society, Spanish National Honor Society and DECA, which prepares students for careers in marketing, finance, hospitality and management.
She also works at a Subway restaurant.
Saltalamacchio said Madison’s broad range of interests is one of the reasons she has been successful.
“If you are going to be successful in pageants, you need to be successful in life,” Saltalamacchio said. “Judges are looking for young women who will be role models and are more than the average. She is someone who always wants to be successful. She has always wanted to be better.”
Madison also created her own anti-bullying platform called “The MADISON Project,” which stands for “Making a Difference in SomeOne Now” and promotes kindness, character and purpose. Her cause coincides with the America’s National Miss’s anti-bullying campaign, which is called “Beauties against Bullies,” and Madison will make appearances for that project during her reign as Miss Teen.
Madison said she works hard to meet the demands of her challenging schedule.
“If that means I am up until 1 a.m. to get my homework done, I will be up to 1 a.m. to get my homework done,” Madison said. “School is important, extracurriculars are important to me, pageants are important. I will do whatever it takes to make sure I am being the best I can be at everything that I do.”