MADISON COUNTY - Madeline Bouillon of Carlinville, the retiring Madison County Fair Pageant queen, said her year as Miss Madison County will “forever mean the world to me.”
“Aside from all the lovely friends and relationships I made within the year, something that sticks out to me is personal growth,” she said. “In just a short year, I was shaped and molded into the best version of myself I have ever seen. And that’s something I think people oftentimes don’t realize about pageants. They’re so empowering to women."
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Bouillon added that the leadership role she was put in when holding the title was the most humbling and rewarding experience she has ever encountered.
"Not only are you a role model, but you are also a friend to the community as a whole which is such a beautiful thing to me," she said. "In a year, I also gained so many skills that will continue to help my future.”
Bouillon started competing in pageants at age 5. She is a saxophone player and her goal is to eventually be a biology teacher.
“I was in musicals and truly have loved volunteering since I was a young girl,” she said. “I feel more now like a businesswoman. I feel the pageantry has turned me into a young lady.”
Bouillon now considers her other queen reps - Kinley Heath, the 2021 Junior Miss, and Leah Frey, the Little Miss - as like her “little sisters,” and said she has loved the experience over the year with them.
Bouillon is a Lewis & Clark Community College student and is in the L&C Jazz Band.
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