 |
| Photos by Dart 2022 Pennsylvania State Laurel Queen Regan Regina and Miss Congeniality (third from left) is shown with first runner-up Miss Central Mountain Ashley Rich (left), 2021 Laurel Queen Jocelyn Renninger and second runner-up Miss Montoursville Ruby Muse (right). |
Regan Regina, a June graduate of Wellsboro Area High School, was crowned the 2022 Pennsylvania State Laurel Queen during the Saturday, June 18 coronation that began at 6:30 p.m. in the Coolidge Theatre at the Deane Center for the Performing Arts at 104 Main Street in Wellsboro.
The 80th Laurel Queen was awarded a $3,000 educational scholarship and, as Miss Wellsboro was also named Miss Congeniality by vote of the other queen candidates and awarded a $500 scholarship. She is the daughter of Gretchen Regina and Chad Tennis of Wellsboro and Che Regina of Royersford.
First runner-up Miss Central Mountain Ashley Rich was awarded a $1,500 scholarship and second runner-up Miss Montoursville Ruby Muse, a $1,000 scholarship.
The Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce through the Wellsboro Foundation sends the scholarship funds directly to the college each young lady attends to help pay tuition.
Laurel Queen judges included David Cohick, judge coordinator and the director of Tioga County Emergency Services in Wellsboro; Renata Stiehl, WENY-TV news director and anchor in Horseheads, N.Y.; Jacob Michaels with 93.3 WBZD-FM, Muncy; and Marti Shabloski of Tioga County Emergency Services.
“I was excited to be chosen Miss Congeniality and Laurel Queen,” said Miss Regina. “To me, it was special that the girls had liked me and felt I was deserving of the honor of being named Miss Congeniality. I felt a lot of love from them,” she added.
“When I was named Laurel Queen, I was super excited. Eighteen years ago, I attended my first Laurel Festival Parade when I was only nine days old. I was supposed to be born on Saturday, June 19, 2004, the day of the parade, but arrived on Thursday, June 10. My middle name is Laurel for the festival, which has always been a super big event for my family and me. I haven’t missed it once in the past 18 years.
“Being chosen to represent Wellsboro Area High School by faculty and staff was amazing. That was my dream for the last 13 years. I wanted to be a queen candidate so I could experience what being a contestant was like. After being named Miss Wellsboro, I thought it would be neat if I won queen.”
The semi-finalists were each asked to draw one question and answer it during the coronation program. When she drew the question about education and what she wanted to do after college, Miss Regina told the audience she was really excited to be answering a question about something she is passionate about and means a lot to her. Beginning on Aug. 15, Miss Regina will be attending Penn State University in State College. “I will be majoring in aerospace engineering to design spaceships and satellites that will go to Mars,” she told the audience when answering her question. “If that doesn’t happen in 10 years, I’ll continue to help people work toward that goal and fly to Mars whenever I can,” she said later.
While in college, she is planning to work toward an internship at Lockheed Martin Corporation, an American aerospace and technology corporation with worldwide interests. I received a nice scholarship from Lockheed Martin,” Miss Regina said.
Following graduation from Penn State, Miss Regina is hoping to work for NASA at some point in her career as an aerospace engineer.
Asked what was the most fun for her during the 80th Annual Pennsylvania State Laurel Festival weekend, she said, “Probably the parade. I made a lot of friends this weekend among the queen candidates. I am especially close with those who were with me on the float – Miss Williamson, Miss Williamsport and Miss Wyalusing. It was fun to see a lot of little kids who thought we were princesses. It reminded me so much of when I was little. That was really cool.”
All four years of high school, Miss Regina was on the distinguished honor roll and student council, serving as Class of 2022 president in 9th grade and vice president in 10th grade and as council vice president in 11th grade and president in 12th grade.
During the past three years, she was a member of the Connect 4 student mentoring program and had roles in high school musicals; as a junior and senior was a color guard majorette and a member of the National Honor Society; and as a senior was the Wellsboro Alumni Council senior class representative.
As a junior and senior, she was employed at UPMC Wellsboro as a food service attendant for hospital patients. This summer she is working as a full-time babysitter for an area family with two children.
First Runner-Up
“ I was shocked and very happy about being first runner-up,” said Miss Rich who represented Central Mountain High School. “I did not expect it, especially since I was the last candidate to be selected as a top 10 semi-finalist. It was such a great experience.” She is the daughter of Tammy Rich of Bald Eagle Township.
“I’m going to take one for the team,” said Miss Rich upon learning that the question she had drawn was about net-zero carbon emissions. “All of us were given the opportunity to look at 13 questions, 10 of which we were going to answer on stage if chosen to be a semi-finalist,” she said. “That was one of the two questions that were pretty difficult and you had to think more about.”
In her answer, Miss Rich focused on renewable energy and talked about how solar panels and water power could be used to increase electricity and reduce carbon emissions to address the issue of global warming. She also said that increasing sales of electric cars would help.
“I enjoyed the whole weekend, especially the extra time between activities,” she said, describing how the queen candidates used that time to “learn about each other, joke around and have a lot of fun.”
“There were seven of us on one float, including Miss Athens, Miss Blue Ridge, Miss Bucktail, Miss Cameron County, Miss Canton, me and Miss Cowanesque Valley. We had a great time,” Miss Rich said.
“During the weekend I became good friends with five or six of the queen candidates. Several of us are planning a trip to Wellsboro to see the 2023 Laurel Parade. As freshmen, Miss Wellsboro and I will be checking in with each other at Penn State and with Jocelyn Renninger, the 2021 Laurel Queen who will be a sophomore there this year,” said Miss Rich who is majoring in kinesiology and exercise science with a minor in coaching to become a pediatric sports medicine specialist.
All four years of high school, Miss Rich was on high honor roll; participated in track and field (100 meter hurdles and long jump) and coached middle school hurdlers. She received medals at the District Meet several years in a row.
Miss Rich was named salutatorian of her class, served as Class of 2022 vice president in 10th grade and president in 11th and 12th grades and was a member of the National Honor Society in 11th and 12th grades.
In grades 10, 11 and 12, she was a member of Key Club, the Rotary Interact Club (treasurer in 11th and 12th grades); on her school’s volleyball team (defensive specialist in junior varsity in 10th grade and in varsity in 11th and 12th grades).
The past three years, Miss Rich was employed at the Lock Haven YMCA as a gymnastics coach, on the Fitness Team and Child Watch after school, on weekends and during the summer.
Second Runner-Up
“I was surprised and really happy about being chosen second runner-up,” said Miss Muse who represented Montoursville Area High School and will be a senior there this fall. “I was not expecting to make it into the top 10 much less be named a runner-up,” She is the daughter of Julia Muse of Montoursville and Dale Brion of Liberty.
“The entire weekend was so nice. I talked to all of the queen candidates. Everyone was lovely. I enjoyed the parade, seeing all of the people lining the streets and hearing the kids saying ‘Oh, a princess’ when they saw us. I appreciated the down time we had with each other during the interviews by the judges. We talked and played card games. It was fun.”
“The weekend was a big learning experience for me. You gain something from being put together with a bunch of people you don’t know. It isn’t as scary as I had thought. I worried that no one would talk to me or that I might be over estimating my social abilities.”
The technology question she was asked as a semi-finalist was what is the effect of texting and social media on communication today. ““I am a teenager so I hear a lot of students speaking using text slang such as “LOL” or “BTDubs” instead of actual words. Teenagers would rather post their problems on social media versus getting together with other students to have one-on-one, face to face conversations in person, which is not a good thing.”
Miss Muse is a member of the National Honor Society and the Honor Societies for Science, English, Math, Social Studies and Spanish. She is a percussionist in her school’s concert and marching bands, a competitive target archer and involved in a number of service organizations, such as Key Club. She received the Distinguished Key Club Member Award for completing more than 50 hours of service.
Since May 2021, she has been a food service employee at UPMC Williamsport.
Following graduation in 2023, she plans to attend a 4-year college and major in nursing, with a minor in Spanish. Miss Muse hopes to study and/or volunteer abroad with a nursing program in a Spanish-speaking country.
Laurel Queen Semi-Finalists
In addition to the 2022 Laurel Queen, first runner-up and second runner-up, other semi-finalists are: Miss Blue Ridge Reese Allen, daughter of Stefanie and William Allen of New Milford; Miss Canton Mya Allen, daughter of Teresa and Ryan Allen of Union Township; Miss Jersey Shore Haley Shadle, daughter of Nichole and Sherman Shadle of Pine Creek Township; Miss Milton Kendall Fedder, daughter of Jo-Ellen and Todd Fedder of Milton; Miss North Penn-Mansfield Alison Davey, daughter of Andrea and Craig Lee of Richmond Township and Todd Davey of Mansfield; Miss Williamson Sharley Brown who resides with her guardians, Misty and AJ Brown in Jackson Township; and Miss Wyalusing Valley Tiffany Newton, daughter of Laurie and Rick Newton of Terry Township.
For information about upcoming events in Wellsboro, contact the Wellsboro Area Chamber of Commerce at 570-724-1926 or visit the chamber website at www.wellsboropa.com.
No comments:
Post a Comment