Fifth-grader has the qualities of a queen -- and the crown

Katelin Denney was surprised to be crowned the Kentucky Sunburst Queen of Queens this summer.

Katelin, 10, won a Kentucky Sunburst Queen title in 2007 and worked all year at preliminary pageants, giving "each and every contestant from ages 0 to 27 encouragement and love," said her mother, Linda Denney. Her efforts and personality attracted the attention of pageant director Mary Clark. So when Katelin came to the 2008 pageant to crown the new queen, Katelin got a big surprise. She was crowned the Kentucky Sunburst Queen of Queens. She remembers Clark saying that she had "all the qualities a queen should have: compassion, grace and humility." "She has a wise, old soul and I am totally blessed to be her mentor," said Denise Mattingly, Katelin's pageant coach. "The world is her oyster and she knows it. She is quite the hard worker and will achieve anything she sets her mind to. She is gentle and loving." Katelin lives in Pleasure Ridge Park with her parents Linda and Larry Denney. She has three older sib-lings.

Katelin, 10, won a Kentucky Sunburst Queen title in 2007 and worked all year at preliminary pageants, giving "each and every contestant from ages 0 to 27 encouragement and love," said her mother, Linda Denney.

Her efforts and personality attracted the attention of pageant director Mary Clark. So when Katelin came to the 2008 pageant to crown the new queen, Katelin got a big surprise. She was crowned the Kentucky Sunburst Queen of Queens.

She remembers Clark saying that she had "all the qualities a queen should have: compassion, grace and humility."

"She has a wise, old soul and I am totally blessed to be her mentor," said Denise Mattingly, Katelin's pageant coach. "The world is her oyster and she knows it. She is quite the hard worker and will achieve anything she sets her mind to. She is gentle and loving."

Katelin lives in Pleasure Ridge Park with her parents Linda and Larry Denney. She has three older siblings.

When Katelin was 3, she remembers helping care for her uncle who had diabetes. "My grandma got me a nurse hat and said, 'Katelin, you could be a nurse.' I told my mom what she said and she said, 'You can be anything you want to be.' "

It was Katelin's idea to form a walking team for diabetes research, and she is the captain of the "Crowns for a Cure" team. Customers at her family's coin laundry -- Best Lil Wash House on Greenwood Road -- can buy sponsorships for $1 and hang a hot pink crown in the business.

Katelin's other projects include Kids Helping Kids Toy Chest, which has collected 1,200 toys and books for disaster relief, inspired by Katelin's reaction to news of children who lost everything in Hurricane Katrina.

Katelin, a fifth-grader at Wilkerson Traditional Elementary, was recognized for raising the most money in Wilkerson's Big Give, a project modeled after Oprah's Big Give.

She "grew" the dollar she was given at the start of the project by helping customers at her family's business for tips. She raised more than $60 and contributed it to St. Ann's Center for Sunday school materials.

Katelin, who aspires to be a pediatrician specializing in juvenile diabetes, has been participating in Sunburst pageants since she was 6. Being a Sunburst Queen, as well as the American Coed Sweetheart Hostess for 2007, gives Katelin opportunities to meet other kids and encourage them.

"Anywhere I go, if it's a pageant, or locally, if I see someone being bullied I say, 'Don't listen to them. Be proud of who you are,' " Katelin said.

Katelin said she takes pride in being "kind, motivated and dependable," and she wants to tell all the children she meets to "have pride in themselves."