The Kootenai Valley Head Start programs in Libby and Troy enjoyed a special visit earlier this month from Miss Montana Kaylee Wolfensberger.

Wolfensberger has been traveling the state giving presentations on the benefits of music education. An accomplished pianist and student at Montana State University, Wolfensberger won the Montana crown following competition in July 2024 in Billings.

Kootenai Valley Head Start Director Chelsea Franke was at a Montana Head Start Association conference in Butte in October when Wolfensberger presented her project to a group of HeadStart directors. 

“I really liked her message and her passion so thought it would be a great experience to have her come in and do a project with the kids,” Franke said.

Wolfensberger’s first class was a group of energetic 3-year-olds who fell all over each other while they played a matching game that featured images of various music instruments, such as a guitar, drums, trumpet, trombone, flute and others. 

Wolfensberger laid the flash cards face down. Students each took turns picking up the cards and then tried to match them. She described how the instruments worked and some of the sounds they make.

Her program is called “Healing Harmonies.” 

Wolfensberger was, in part, inspired to develop her program after a school she attended in Rigby, Idaho was the scene of a tragic shooting in 2021. Various media reports indicated the shooter was a sixth-grade female student who wounded two students and a custodian at Rigby Middle School.

“The trauma everyone suffered was terrible, but I feel the healing power of music helped many overcome what had happened there,” Wolfensberger said. “'Healing Harmonies' has been a great way for me to connect with children at Head Starts and other places across Montana.

As for being Miss Montana, Wolfensberger said she knows June 21 in Butte will be a sad day when she gives up her crown.

“But it’s been an amazing year and the experiences I’ve had are really cool,” she said.

She’s been involved in Women in Business, which allowed her the opportunity to meet Seattle Seahawks officials. She’s also advocated for women in business.

“You don’t have have to sacrifice femininity to be taken serious,” she said. 

After surrendering her Miss Montana crown, Wolfensberger will return to Bozeman to finish her studies and earn a degree in business marketing.

Her journey to the 103rd Miss America Competition in Orlando, Florida in January began when she was a child watching her mother work in local competitions. After enjoying some early success, a few preteen competitions didn’t go as planned and she decided to take a break.

But when she turned 18, she returned to competition and her improvement in interviewing and being onstage helped her confidence grow. A first runner-up finish in Wolfensberger’s initial return to competition cemented in her mind that she’d continue to compete.