MOUNT VERNON — Hope Brill of Mount Vernon High School was named 2009 Central Knox County Junior Miss and Yelena Arishina of Centerburg High School was named 2009 Greater Knox County Junior Miss at Saturday evening’s final performances and award ceremony at the Memorial Theater.
For the fifth year in a row, a CHS student was named Greater Knox County Junior Miss.
Also chosen to represent Central Knox County are first runner-up Maria Crippen of MVHS and second runner-up Christine Herald of MVHS. Chosen to represent Greater Knox County are first runner-up Faith Cook of East Knox High School and second runner-up Shelby Gonzales of Danville High School.
“I’m really shocked, really shocked,” said Brill. “It doesn’t seem real.”
Her grandmother, Patty Brill, watched as her granddaughter posed for many photos.
“I am so proud of her,” she said with a big smile.
“I’m ecstatic, and I’m just so glad I had the opportunity to go through this and meet all these wonderful girls,” Arishina said.
This year’s theme was “Let’s Go to the Movies” and was carried throughout the event. Each contestant introduced herself to the audience with her favorite quote from a movie, and the audience participated in guessing titles of movies based on characters’ names.
The green group gave Self Expression and Talent presentations, the blue group did their Fitness routine and the red group performed their Self Expression routine.
Kendra Mills of DHS performed an elegantly choreographed baton twirling routine to “Hallelujah” and Crippen showed her talent with a modern contemporary dance routine. Brill brought tears to many eyes by sketching a portrait of her young cousin, Carol Ann Durbin, who was adopted from China by Brill’s aunt, Beth Durbin of Danville, while her recorded voice told Carol Ann’s story.
The audience enjoyed a slide show of baby pictures, high school photos, candids and the official Junior Miss portraits. Aunna Stambaugh, 2008 Greater Knox County Junior Miss, and Sarah Hohman, 2008 Central Knox County Junior Miss, showed off their talents in song and dance. Stambaugh sang “Please Remember” accompanied by her sister Ashley, a former Junior Miss contestant who interpreted the song in American Sign Language, her white elbow-length gloves contrasted against her black gown. Hohman performed a modern dance routine to an instrumental rendition of “Piano Man.”
Be Your Best Self essays were read by Gonzales and Catherine Schermerhorn. Junior Miss alumnae — affectionately called “Has Beens” — came to the stage to tell of their post-program lives, and Hohman and Stambaugh gave farewell speeches and took one last walk across the stage.
Arishina and Maria Crippen of MVHS won the Self-Expression awards. Fitness awards went to Bianca Dingman of MVHS and Arishina; Talent awards went to Kayla Perkins of Fredericktown High School and Crippen; Interview awards were given to Arishina and Jessica McQuig of MVHS; and Scholastic awards, which made up 20 percent of the judging criteria, were presented to Arishina and Brill.
Brill and Arishina will compete in February in the Ohio Junior Miss program, hosted each year by Mount Vernon at the Memorial Theater. The annual radio auction to benefit the scholarship program will take place in January.
