Sydnee Waggoner | Soprano | Miss Alaska 2009

November 9, 2011
I want to invite all my friends and family to an upcoming performance in New York City next Wednesday, November 9; I will be singing Gabriel, the soprano solo in Haydn's Creation with the Manhattan School of Music's Chamber Symphonia and Symphonic Choir, conducted by Kent Tritle. The concert is at MSM in Borden Auditorium at 7:30pm. I hope you all can come, it's really beautiful music! There's more information here
July 12, 2011
Sydnee will be making her professional debut with Opera Fairbanks in July 2011 as Giannetta, and cover the lead role of Adina, in L'elisir d'amore with Paul Plishka, Maestro Gregory Buchalter and Directory Jonathon Loy all of the Metropolitan Opera!
September 13, 2010
Dear friends and family, reigning winners and beautiful hopefuls, it is time for me to say goodbye. This past year has been an absolute whirlwind, full of surprises from start to finish. Being new to the Miss America family, last year’s Miss Alaska Competition was my first pageant: the win was unexpected, but I have been thrilled to represent Alaska, my home state. This crown has given me the opportunity to participate in some amazing events with incredibly inspirational individuals. Working towards my platform, I was able to advocate for issues regarding Women’s Health, Amnesty & Education, while sharing in a multitude of philanthropic events. Through the Miss America/ Children's Miracle Network partnership I was given the privilege of meeting some fantastic kids and families, all great examples of Miracle Children. I gave all my best during my reign and at Miss America- I humbly hope I made my home state proud. I now have 52 girlfriends across the Nation who make up the talented, accomplished and beautiful Miss America class of 2010. All these opportunities and my success at Miss America would have been utterly impossible without the time, effort and help from the fabulous volunteers behind our Miss Alaska delegation and our amazing sponsors. It has also been an honor and pleasure to work alongside Miss Alaska’s Outstanding Teen, Veronica Temple, my coach, motivation and cheerleader. Congratulations to all she has accomplished this past year! Above all, words cannot express the gratitude I owe to my family & friends – with special mentioning of my parents, and Sash & Mags. The help & time you have given me this past year is inimitable to say the least -I certainly wouldn’t have survived without such an amazing support system. I truly had an incomparable experience wearing the Miss Alaska crown. It has granted me the privilege of visiting many wonderful places, and meeting people who are helping to change Alaska for the best, while also being given a chance to showcase who I am and what I stand for. I have no doubt that our great new Miss Alaska, my good friend and colleague, Abby Hancock, will carry on representing our great state to the fullest. I wish you all the best of luck and sincerely thank everyone again for supporting me and being a part of this wild ride.
January 16, 2010
Save the Dates! Viva Las Vegas! Miss America Send Off & Trunk Show-Sat. Jan. 16 If you’re in the Anchorage area, you can come preview Miss Alaska’s full Miss America wardrobe and talent this Saturday, January 16 at 6:00pm – Recital Hall at the UAA Fine Arts Building. $10 donation – all proceeds will go towards my trip to Miss America and the Miss Alaska Scholarship Foundation. Bring your checkbooks, we have a fabulous silent auction with items for dudes, dolls & all the kiddies! Rock the Vote: VOTE Miss Alaska into the Miss America Finals! Ok...so this gets a little confusing, even for me. The 2010 Miss America Pageant One-Hour Special airs on TLC the night before Miss America - Friday, January 29th at 9:00 PM (AKT). Check your local listings or visit TLC.com for channel information. This year, the stakes grow higher as America will have the chance to vote for 4 contestants directly who are not in the judges’ Top- 15! Following the Friday night special, America will be asked to vote for their favorites from a field of 10-12 contestants chosen by the 53 contestants themselves, not a team of outside consultants. Hosted by Clinton Kelly, of "What Not to Wear", the 2010 Miss America Pageant special will offer viewers direct access to the girls as they prepare for the 2010 Miss America Pageant. Who will make it into the pageant's Top 15 and have the ultimate crowning moment?! Be sure to tune into TLC on Friday, January 29th to vote for Miss Alaska 2009, Sydnee Waggoner!!! What happens in Vegas... Airs on TLC! The 2010 Miss America Pageant will be broadcast LIVE (ET) from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas on Saturday January 30, 2010 at 7 PM. Check your local listings or visit TLC.com for channel information.
December 20, 2009
To all my Miss Alaska fans, followers, family and friends! Wow. I can’t believe the Miss America Pageant is creeping up on my calendar. I’m remembering one of the coolest facts Miss America Chairman, Sam Haskell, told us all was that parents are statistically much more likely to have a son who plays NFL football than a daughter who competes in Miss America! My time as Miss Alaska since June has truly flown by; I’ve been blessed by so many amazing, remarkable, simply fun experiences. As busy as I’ve kept, I apologize for neglecting to update you all more frequently into the fast and fabulous life of Miss AK. However, in celebration of the new year, and aught-ten, distinctly, I’d like to highlight my top-ten for 2010: 1. P is for Philanthropy: What would a Year of Service be without packing in the community service? (Don’t be fooled, some of it is all fun & games, P is also for Parades!) I rang in my reign by volunteering as an awards presenter at the Special Olympics Alaska Summer Basketball Awards Ceremony the morning after I was crowned; what a blast! (And let me tell you - these true athletes would whoop me in a game of hoops). Since June, I’ve been involved in a wide range of events: Local celeb & hometown hero, Scott Gomez’s annual fundraiser for his foundation benefiting youth sports Wheelin’ around at the Bear Paw, Alaska State Fair, and 4th of July Parades Bidding farewell to Palin and hailing hello to Parnell at the Governor’s Annual Picnic, as a volunteer alongside our finest military personnel Honored National Anthem singer at the downtown festivities for the following 4th of July festivities in Anchorage Storytime Reader (my favorite childhood pastime!) at the Alaska Zoo Invited Guest speaker on my platform, Women’s Health, Amnesty & Education, at Palmer, AK Rotary Meeting & greeting delegates from Chitose, Japan, at events honoring Anchorage’s 30-year partnership with our beloved Sister City Encouraging up-and coming artists as a volunteer judge at the Alaska State Fair’s “Alaska’s Got Talent” competition Honored State Flag Singer, followed by raising money and braving the bucking salmon at Special Olympics Alaska fundraiser in cooperation with the Alaska Chapter for the American Society of Interior Designers EVA Foundation’s annual Christmas Tree Gala – opening lounge singer and ceremonial guest singer KidsRUs: topping the year off in a Coldstone ice-cream date with a very bright nine-year-old from Bear Valley Elementary, chatting about the importance of tolerance and helpfulness as a special surprise guest with a class of 3rd graders at Lake Hood Elementary Providence Children’s Hospital – special surprise visitors, we came bearing gifts and singing carols before Christmas Serving up a hot meal at Bean’s Café, Anchorage’s local homeless shelter Whew! And that’s just the tip of the iceberg here in the AK for community service and philanthropy. Check out our facebook fanpage for more pictures of all these amazing events. 2.My Lil’ Nuggets & the Children’s Miracle Network! Lucky for me, I always have a group of très adorables little princesses alongside to make sure I am towing the pageant line! The Gold Nugget program, designed for young girls between 5-12 years old, involves mentoring and fundraising activities sponsored by the Miss Alaska Scholarship Foundation. I am paired with our honorary Children’s Miracle Network Gold Nugget Princess, Miss Julia Gebert, who can sing along to any and every Michael Jackson song and keeps me on my toes regarding pop-culture (she’s a whole lot cooler than me). The Miss America Organization also teams up with the Children's Miracle Network by raising funds. As a national contestant, I set a goal to raise $1,000 – and REACHED IT! However, it’s not too late - you can still donate to this amazing partnership at my page: http://www.missamerica4kids.org/m.aspx?i=120431B66BCD96AE9 Money raised will benefit both Children's Miracle Network and the Miss America Scholarship Fund. 3.Media Maven Gee, it’s great to be an honored alumna – in print! My alma mater’s Boston U & Delta Gamma have both proudly touted Miss Alaska – it’s been so amazing to have support from other national organizations. Delta Gamma National Sorority boasts 3 Miss America contestants this year, including me! Miss Alaska Sydnee Waggoner (Zeta Zeta-Boston University), Miss Iowa Anne Michael Langguth (Zeta Phi-Harvard), and Miss California Kristy Cavinder (Alpha Nu-USC). My CMN Princess, Julia, even made us famous! Anchora, Delta Gamma’s National Publication, highlights Julia and me with a pic – check us out on p. 17: (go to archives, Fall Issue) http://digital.watkinsprinting.com/publication/?i=28945 In recognition of their many successful alums, Boston University College of Fine Arts’ latest Alumni publication, Esprit, also includes a photo and write-up of Miss Alaska. P. 22 http://www.bu.edu/cfa/documents/Esprit-Winter2010_000.pdf 4.PRETTY in PiNK RUN! Platform also equals philanthropy. And up in Alaska, we love our Pink Salmon just as much as fashion and promoting the Pink Ribbon symbol. Throw these together and you have a recipe for a rockin’ Alaskan Fashion Show Benefiting Breast Cancer Awareness! In Alaska, the pink salmon only run every two years, and it being called a “Pink Year,” we paired our Pink Ribbon Show with an Alaskana theme. Miss Alaska & friends coordinated, organized and hosted an Alaskan Fashion Show featuring handknits from home-grown designer Tanner Randall’s Nanuq collection and Anchorage’s premier boutique, Lulu e. bebe’s debut fall line. The show benefited local breast cancer organizations and involved the entire women’s health community. As my platform advocates “Women’s Health, Amnesty & Education,” breast cancer is a cause near and dear to my heart. Lately, it seems that every family has been touched by a woman fighting against breast cancer, including my own; the most recent statistics report it as the second leading cause of cancer death in women, and the chance that breast cancer will be responsible for a woman's death is about 3% – that’s a staggering 1 in a 35 women. On a lighter (and more proactive) note, Anchorage women and more came out to support this awesome event for Miss Alaska’s platform- if you didn’t show, you missed out on a pink-slammin’-salmon good time! ;) 5.Miss America takes Florida In August, all 53 Miss America contestants rounded the troops to cheer on their Miss America Outstanding Teen counterparts at the MAOT competition. What a cool week; to befriend the other 52 amazingly funny, charming, smart & unique girls who make up the Miss America class of 2010 before the competition begins. BTWs, I couldn’t be more proud and pumped for Miss Alaska Outstanding Teen, Veronica Temple, my pageant-partner-in-crime. This little dynamo has had quite an amazing year, she’s even been invited to perform her talent during one of the preliminary competitions at Miss America! Expect great things from Mizz Temple! 6.Green Really Is Gorgeous! This year Miss America is getting a makeover – an eco-makeover, that is! As part of a national campaign to “Go Green,” the Miss America Organization is hosting an online eco-conscious competition. Each contestant chose their favorite tip for being more earth-friendly. You can view my video and VOTE by Fri., Jan 29, 2010 – the night before the Miss America competition. The first “Green T – Green is Gorgeous Award” eco-contest winner will be chosen that night. Check out my video here, I was even referenced by an accredited medical site! http://www.greentwithtamara.com/pg_contest.php http://docs.google.com/View?id=dgjrw95j_947d7bfjzf2 7.How to Win Friends and Influence People, the Dale Carnegie Course! Offhand, Carnegie’s above mentioned book title may bring to mind a Machiavellian MO – but I honestly cannot speak highly enough of my experience in the Dale Carnegie program. As part of a scholarship allotted to me by the Miss America Organization, I was fortunate enough to participate in the Dale Carnegie Course. The program sharpens ones communicative and professional skills, while developing efficient and meaningful intrapersonal and business relationships. After an initial three weeks of being embarrassed out of my comfort zone, I now find myself nostalgic for my familiar Monday night fellow classmates, who ranged from corporate exec’s to housewives to recent unemployed college grads (à la yours truly) to high-school seniors. Each brought individual drive and experience to the mix. I couldn’t have asked for a better prep and more humbling experience leading up to Miss America. 8.Sing for my Supper They say 10,000 hours of practice=formula for success (read Malcolm Gladwell’s The Outliers). One of the many reasons for my exorbitant time spent in a lonely practice room – slowly, but surely - it seems to be paying off. Upon being crowned Miss Alaska, I was also awarded the preliminary award for Overall Talent singing the operatic aria “Juliette’s Waltz” – a successful performance I hope to repeat at Miss America. This summer I was named the 2009 Young Alaskan Artist Award through the Anchorage Festival of Music, and was honored with a fellowship that allowed for me to continue my vocal studies in New York City for several weeks this fall in preparation for the Miss America competition and my graduate school auditions. In August, I returned as a young singer in summer residence with OperaTampa’s and Disney’s V.O.I.C.Experience with Sherril Milnes; I even received my first review! “…soprano (and current Miss Alaska) Sydnee Waggoner's sparkling rendition of I Feel Pretty from West Side Story.” (Critic’s Circle, Tampa Bay, August 2009). After Miss America, I will return for a second round of auditions for Opera Programs at Graduate Schools and Conservatories back East. In truth, I think I can pull a quote from Charlotte’s Web on this: “Luck had nothing to do with it! It was good management and hard work.” 9.The dot.com Launch My website is finally here! Thanks to the web-mastering skills of the glorious, sublimely talented and ever-patient Sara Faura, and graphix aficionado, Margaret M. Burgess, you can now read up on my appearances and performance bio & resumé, check out audio and media files, pictures galleries, follow quick links to my updates on any and all social networking sites (twitter, Facebook fanpage, myspace). 10.There she is... Last but (certainly) not least, the majority of my year and especially last few months has been chock-full of Miss America preparation! My new maxim is sing, sweat, sleep. After having great success jumpstarting my fitness program with the amazing staff at Bikram Yoga Harlem in NYC, and igniting a new passion for Bikram in my lifestyle, I’m now onto two-a-day CrossFit sessions with my amazing trainer Lance and his wife Karen at the Dimond Athletic Club. Along with sponsorships at BodyRenew Anchorage and the brand new Anchorage Yoga Studio, I’m as ready as I’ll ever be for that swimsuit strut. Both borrowed and blue, my wardrobe consists of over 20 cocktail and evenings dresses,. I’m totally revved up to rock the stage and proudly repp’ my homestate at Miss America!