Student of the month volunteers, stars in pageants

HIAWATHA - Madison Williams is preparing for her close-up.

At a dance studio here, where she has classes twice a week, Madsion is preparing for a TV interview. She's just been named The Gazette and KCRG's first Student of the Month.

'How about we stop putting on lipstick, beautiful?” her mom, Sarah Williams, says.

Madison, 6, is busy for her age. In addition to her dance classes, she's practicing for a part as an angel in 'The Nutcracker”. She participates in multiple pageants each year and volunteers with the Springville Fire Department and the Salvation Army, among other groups. And during the day, she's a first-grader at Springville Elementary School.

'I rarely get to sit down,” Sarah Williams said.

But Madison seems to enjoy it. When she walks onstage at a pageant and sees the crowd, she gets nervous at first, she said.

'But then I look at Mom, dance and do the poses that I need to,” she said.

Madison started volunteering after she first entered a pageant in April 2013, her mom said. Pageants often require service, Sarah Williams said, and she and Madison now put on their own pageant each year. This year, they're partnering with the Hall Perrine Center to raise money for cancer.

Sarah was in the military, she said, and she received a medal for doing more than 350 hours of volunteer work.

But now, she said, Madison's enthusiasm for bell-ringing in the cold can tire her out.

'I really like helping people, and it's really cool that I get to help people so much,” Madison said.

Madison has two younger siblings, and she said she enjoys being a role model for them and others when she's on stage.

'It makes me feel excited,” she said.