Back from Nebraska: Kayla Baylor Thanks Her Supporters

Although the family came home late from their trip last Sunday, Miss Pre-Teen Amazing Kayla Baylor is still wearing an ear-to-ear grin, said her mother, JoAnn Colaneri.

Baylor, a 13-year-old West Deptford resident who suffers from Asperger's syndrome, represented the tri-state area in the national round of the Miss Amazing pageant in Nebraska last week.

And the trip, which was funded by donations from throughout the region—including a big check from the ownership group of the RiverWinds restaurant—almost didn't happen.

But West Deptford elected officials, private citizens, and businesses dug deep, and within two weeks, Baylor was on a plane headed for the Midwest.

"The experience was more then we could have asked for," Colaneri said in an e-mail to Patch. "Kayla accomplished all her goals and then some. She even made a number of new friends from other states that she is keeping in contact with."

From the time the family arrived in Nebraska, Colaneri said, the girls' schedules were full of activities in addition to the pageant itself, including a pool party, banquet and zoo trip, as well as a community service project.

"We arrived Wednesday evening, and on Friday it took me an hour to get [Kayla] up, as she was already so exhausted from all they were doing with the girls," Colaneri said.

Although Baylor didn't win the pageant, each participant took home a trophy and crown as a token of their participation, Colaneri said.

But the experience is what was so valuable for her daughter, she said; it helped Baylor "to be able to prove that she can achieve her goals."

And for that, she had nothing but effusive thanks to the entire community that rose up to support them.