6 teens seek Jr. Fair king & queen titles

Van Wert County Junior Fair information

With the Van Wert County Fair quickly approaching, the Junior Fair Coronation Committee has released the 2014 Junior Fair King and Queen candidates for the 2014 Fair. The committee also reminds the public that this year’s coronation ceremony will be held at 6 p.m. Sunday, August 24, in the Entertainment Tent.

Queen candidates

Cheyenne Oechsle, the daughter of Heidi and Duane Emans, will be entering her senior year at Crestview High School. At Crestview, she is a member of FCCLA, a varsity girls’ basketball statistician, a member of the softball team, academic Red Club, and was on the honor roll. Oechsle is a seventh year 4-H member, where she has held the offices of vice president, secretary, treasurer, and historian six of those years.

She is also a current member of Buckeye Ambassadors for the second year and Junior Fair Board, where she has been secretary for the past two of the three years she has been on the board. She has received the Outstanding Junior Fair Board Member Award for the previous two years. Six of the seven years Oechsle has been in 4-H, she has taken swine to the fair.

When she is not working at the Convoy Tastee Freeze, she volunteers during the summer at the Extension Office preparing for the upcoming fair. After graduation, she plans to attend the University of Akron to pursue a Masters of Science degree in nursing, with a concentration in trauma nursing.

Lauren Schmid, 17, is the daughter of Kent and Jane Schmid of Wren. She is a senior at Crestview High School and is representing the Crestview FFA chapter. She is a four-year member and current president of the Crestview FFA and has been involved in softball, soccer, cheerleading, Fellowship of Christian Athletes, and youth group. Schmid has participated in Greenhand, cooperative education, parliamentary procedure, and was on the 2014 Farm Business Management state championship team, individually placing seventh in the state. She has taken show cattle through Beef It Up 4-H club for five years and through FFA for four years. Her sixth year participating in 4-H, she was a 4-H ambassador and a camp counselor.

Schmid actively attends Trinity United Methodist Church and is an active member of the youth group and volunteers with childcare and music. Over the past four summers she has participated in three mission trips in Nooksack Valley, Washington, Eureka Springs, Arkansas, and Flint, Michigan, roofing houses, painting churches, and clearing and landscaping vacant lots.

Schmid enjoys working on the farm with her father and working on her fair projects. She also enjoys playing travel team softball, going to bonfires and spending time with her friends and family.

Schmid encourages everyone to become involved in their local 4-H club or FFA Chapter.

Sophie Wilson is the daughter of Michael and Wendy Wilson. She is an upcoming junior at Delphos Jefferson High School, and her school involvements include being a member of the Fellowship of Christian Athletes, varsity football cheerleading, varsity softball, and wrestling statistician.

She has been an FFA member from 2012 to the present and is vice president of the Delphos FFA. Her FFA project is taking two market lambs and one performance lamb to the fair. She has been a 4-H member from 2006 to the present and currently is president of her club. Her 4-H project is taking beef feeders to the Van Wert Fair. Wilson is also a 4-H camp counselor, a member of the Junior Fair Board and Trinity United Methodist Church.

Taylor Jean Hughes is the daughter of Susan and Brad Hughes of Van Wert. She is a senior at Crestview High School in Convoy, where she is an active member of the golf team, band, Knight Vision, FCCLA, and track. In these organizations, she has held numerous leadership roles.

She attends the Convoy United Methodist Church, where she is a member and president of the youth group. She is an active volunteer for Van Wert County Special Olympics and loves volunteering with Big Brothers Big Sisters.

As a 4-H member, she has been a part of four clubs, taken numerous miscellaneous, and livestock projects, and won a variety of awards. She currently represents the Van Wert County Interstate Exchange Club and shows dairy feeders and dairy steers at the Van Wert fair. One of her favorite memories is winning Reserve Grand Champion Dairy Steer her first year as an exhibitor. Hughes is excited about running for fair queen.

King candidates

Cody Keirns, the son of Dave and Mia Keirns, is a 2014 graduate of Van Wert High School. While in school, he participated in choir, basketball, and baseball.

In 4-H, he is an active member in Buckeye Ambassadors and was a 4-H Camp counselor, and in his club he is vice president of the Shooting Stars 4-H Club, and has been treasurer and in charge of activities for the club in previous years.

Keirns plans to work for a year or two before heading to college to pursue a degree in nursing.

Jonathon Germann is the son of Doug and Marcia Germann and a senior at Crestview High School. He is an active four-year member in the Crestview FFA, where he currently holds the position of student advisor. Germann is also on the Crestview varsity golf and track and field teams, and has earned the scholar-athlete award two years.

Being a part of the Van Wert County Junior Fair has always been important to him, as he started showing animals when he was in kindergarten and bought his first cow when he was 8 years old. His fair projects include beef cattle and breeding stock, all raised from his herd, horses, rabbits, and goats. He is a member of the Junior Fair Board, enjoys participating in a variety of sports, referees Upward basketball, and has worked for years at his church campground.

This summer Germann was honored to represent American Legion Post 178 in Van Wert at the annual Buckeye Boys State held at Bowling Green State University.

He attends Common Ground Church in Decatur, Indiana, and works part-time at Century Trading Company Inc. His future plans are to study civil engineering and pursue a career in the United States military.

Also new this year is the Species Prince or Princess title, for which there are five candidates. The king and queen and runners-up will be crowned first, followed by the species prince or princess.

Candidates are Sophie Wilson, Lauren Schmid, Tara Vorst, Amanda Lobsiger, and Leah Lichtensteiger.

Tara Vorst, daughter of Chris and Sandy Vorst, will be running for Swine Princess. She is a nine-year member of Venedocia Lads and Lassies 4-H Club, where she has held many offices; a three-year member of the Junior Fair Board; and has served as a 4-H Camp counselor. She will be a senior at Delphos St. John’s High School, where she is Student Council president. She is also a member of National Honor Society, varsity basketball team, and other community and liturgical service organizations.

Amanda Lobsiger is the daughter of Chris and Erika Lobsiger. She graduated from Crestview High School in 2013 and is currently going to the University of Northwestern Ohio studying agribusiness. She has raised goats all her life and has shown them since she was 3. She has been in 4-H for 11 years and was in FFA for two years. She participated in many career development events in FFA, including soil judging, livestock judging, farm business management, and grain merchandising.

In her senior year of high school, she got the privilege of participating at the National FFA Convention for farm business management, where her team received 17th nationally and earned a silver rating individually. Also in high school, she ran track and cross country and participated in Model UN and National Honor Society. Currently, she is employed at Westwood Car Wash and is learning barrel racing.

Leah Lichtensteiger is the daughter of David and Janice Lichtensteiger. She graduated from Crestview High School and, while a student there, was actively involved in the school’s agriculture/FFA program. She was a member for four years, and competed in the multiple career development events. Her freshman year she participated in the Greenhand test, parliamentary procedure, and equine management judging. Her sophomore year she took the cooperative education test, parliamentary procedure and, once again, equine management judging. Her junior year she took part in farm business management, where her team placed first in the state. She also was a teacher’s assistant to her FFA chapter’s advisor and completed her State FFA degree. During her senior year, she took part in equine management judging and parliamentary procedure and got the opportunity to go to national competition with the farm business management team.

Outside of school, Lichtensteiger has two horses and participates in barrel racing. She has qualified for the Ohio State Fair twice and in 2012 placed in the top 10 at state. She also runs at the All American Quarter Horse Congress in October. When she isn’t with her horses, she helps her dad and uncle around the farm with various jobs.