MILWAUKEE — Focus, precision and execution - all in a day's work for 10-year-old Bailey Clemmons. At LaFleur's Gymnastics in Germantown, she spends her time practicing a lot. Her mom Dionna is her biggest fan.
"She's here three hours, four times a week," said Dionna. Bailey recently competed in Nationals, winning first place in All Around in state competition. While she showed me a few moves on the balance beam, her mom explained how she's able to balance school with all her extra curricular activities. "So we balance at home using a lot of calendar schedules," said Dionna.
This mother-daughter duo bonds not just on the mat, but on the stage too. "I won in 1995, so I was third ever Miss Juneteenth to win in the pageant and I had just turned 14 years old," said Dionna. Nearly 25 years later, Bailey followed in her mom's footsteps, winning Little Miss Juneteenth in 2019 at just 7 years old. "When I was in the pageant, I as the youngest one, it was my first pageant that I had ever done," said Bailey.
Dionna says understanding the history and the meaning of Juneteenth is very important, "Your first teachers are your parents and I make sure that our children understand the sacrifices that were made for them in the spaces that they are in, and Juneteenth is one of those things," she said.
"Juneteenth was when the last slaves found out they were free," said Bailey.
Bailey certainly has a bright future ahead of her and already has plans for college. "When I finish college, I want to go to the Olympics, want to be the next Simone Biles and the first Bailey Clemmons," she said.
The Juneteenth legacy for the Clemmons family continues. Bailey's younger brother Brian Jr. entered this year's competition and won Mr. Juneteenth Jr. What big sister advice did Bailey have for him? "When you go on stage, just be confident, don't worry about the judges, and just go there and have fun," she said.
