In her senior year she entered a local America's Junior Miss pageant, where she surprised the judges and her fellow competitors by performing ventriloquism as her talent, which she later honed at the Phoenix amusement park, Legend City.

She was named Arizona's Junior Miss for 1961, and traveled with "Kurley-Q" to Mobile, Alabama, for the national finals, where she placed in the top ten.

[2] During her reign as Miss America, Miss Van Dyke appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, performing her ventriloquism act and demonstrating her singing skills, while sharing the stage with The Beach Boys, Robert Goulet, and Leslie Uggams.

In 1966 she wrote a Christian-themed teen advice book called That Girl in Your Mirror, in which she advised young women to become more beautiful by adopting "that inner sparkle that only Christ can give."

She later wrote Dear Vonda Kay, which came out in 1967, and consisted of letters to Van Dyke and her replies.