Miss Montana brings her music education mission to ADLC Head Start

The Smelter City's littlest students got a big treat earlier this month when the reigning Miss Montana, Kaylee Wolfensberger, visited Anaconda-Deer Lodge County Head Start to bring her mission promoting the importance of music education for all children regardless of their socio-economic status. 

Wolfensberger, a student at Montana State University pursuing a degree in business marketing with a specialized focus on sports marketing, is also an advocate for music education, having received superior ratings in the Upper Valley Piano Festival for eight consecutive years and dancing on a seven-time national championship team. Her goal is to reach as many children as possible in Montana through her initiative, Healing Harmonies, and teach the importance of music, particularly how music can help them work through difficult emotions. 

"I have always been a huge lover of music and believe everyone deserves access to music education regardless of their socioeconomic background, but my big propeller for Healing Harmonies is my own personal experience with the healing power of music," Wolfensberger explained. "I went through a traumatic experience myself and afterwards I was numb to emotion. Music pulled me out of that. I found relief when I played the piano. 50-80% of children living in poverty will experience a traumatic event. I want these children to have the opportunity to heal through music, like I did."

Montana has a higher poverty rate than the United States as a whole and a significantly higher amount of rural communities than other states, Wolfensberger said.

"This unfortunately results in less students having access to music education especially in schools," she said. "Schools that have music programs have roughly a 20% higher graduation rate and higher scores on standardized tests. Music isn’t just a hobby, it actually contributes to student success." 

During her time at ADLC Head Start, Wolfensberger talked with the kids about how songs can make them feel. 

"Then I give them tambourines made out of paper plates and beans inside. I play several different classical music pieces and ask them to pick a color that describes or draw how that song makes them feel. After every song we talk about how that song made them feel and talk about what instruments they heard in the music," she said. "Afterwards, we use our tambourines to make our own music, so they get to learn about music and make an instrument." 

Her visit came about via the Montana Head Start Association's Directors Meeting held in Butte in October, where she presented her platform and ADLC Head Start Director Heidi Ungaretti immediately got on board.

"Miss Montana was absolutely delightful and will represent our state with pride. She was very engaged with the children, guiding them through an activity where they identified their emotions while listening to music and decorating their own tambourines," Ungaretti said. "The students were thrilled to have a real princess visit their school, and the excitement was truly contagious."

Wolfensberger also was able to visit with music students at Anaconda Junior/Senior High School during her stop in the Smelter City. 

"This was the first high school class I got to meet with and it was so inspiring. I was able to have deeper conversations about how music has affected those students’ lives, especially at a time in their lives where they are discovering who they are and going through lots of life changes and milestones," she said. "This was the first time I was able to share my story with students and I think that allowed me to connect with them on a much deeper level. I hope I can continue to work with older ages."

To learn more about Wolfensberger and her Healing Harmonies initiative, follow her on Instagram @missamericamt or Facebook @Miss Montana.