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Above: Contestants at the 2024 Miss Arizona Teen competition pose for a group photo with winner Vianah Bradt, wearing purple, front and center. Below: Senita teen Vianah Bradt (center) addresses the judges as a Miss Arizona Teen finalist.
This year’s Miss Arizona is from Maricopa — twice BY JEFF CHEW
Clockwise from top left: Vianah Bradt performs her routine at the 2024 Miss Arizona Teen pageant. | Vianah Bradt is crowned Miss Arizona Teen in Gilbert on June 24. | Shailey Ringenbach is this year’s Miss Arizona. Below: Shailey Ringenbach, wearing black, is crowned Miss Arizona in Phoenix on June 22.
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family moved to Tortosa. She has competed in pageants for the past nine years. At ASU, Ringenbach is a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority and lives on campus. “This year, there is a particularly close and unusual tie between the city of Maricopa and the Miss America organization,” said Steve Ringenbach, Miss Arizona’s dad. Arizona has twice won the Miss America pageant. The first Miss America from Arizona, Jacque Mercer (Thatcher), was crowned in 1949. Vonda Kay Van Dyke (Phoenix) inherited the Miss America crown in 1965. Bradt, 17, is a senior at Maricopa High School, where she is an active member of the dance team. She has been a trained performer since age 3. She is passionate about the arts and mentorship, which is the basis for her service initiative, Building Confidence Through Mentorship. She has been part of the Miss Arizona Organization for 10 years, starting in the Princess Program at age 8. She started competing at the local level when she was 13 and has actively competed ever since. Bradt was crowned June 24 at the Higley Center for the Performing Arts in Gilbert.
ARICOPA IS NOW THE HOME of both Miss Arizona and Miss Arizona Teen. Miss Arizona Shailey
Ringenbach, Tortosa, and Miss Arizona Teen Vianah Bradt, Senita, each bested nearly 50 contestants from around the state to take their crowns back to Maricopa. Ringenbach, 20, was crowned June 22 at the Madison Center of the Arts in Phoenix. She will compete for the title of Miss America in January in Florida. Ringenbach is on a full-ride scholarship to Arizona State University, where she majors in digital marketing and minors in real estate. She is already getting real estate experience, selling homes for D.R. Horton in Sorrento. Ringenbach, formerly National American Miss Arizona Pre-Teen, grew up in Maricopa, where she was active in gymnastics after her
InMaricopa.com | August 2024
August 2024 | InMaricopa.com
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