With the Van Wert County
Fair quickly approaching, the Jr. Fair Coronation Committee has released the
2014 Jr. Fair King and Queen Candidates for the 2014 Fair. They would also like
to remind the public that this year’s coronation ceremony will be held on
Sunday August 24th, 2014 starting at 6 p.m. at the entertainment
tent.
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, 4-H Camp Counselors, and in his club as well, holding
the office of Vice President for the Shooting Stars 4-H club, and has been Treasure
and in charge of activities for the club in previous years. Cody plans to work
for a year or two before heading to college to pursue 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. Jon is also on the Crestview Varsity Golf and Track and Field
Teams, and has earned the Scholar Athlete award for two years. Being a part of
the Van Wert County Jr. 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 eight. His fair projects include beef cattle and breeding stock, all raised
from his herd, horses, rabbits, and goats. He is a member of the Jr. Fair
Board, enjoys participating in a variety of sports, referees Upward basketball,
and has worked for years at his church campground. This summer Jon was honored
to represent the Van Wert American Legion Post 178 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 Co., Inc. His future
plans are to study civil engineering and pursue a career in the United States Military.
Cheyenne Oechsle, the
daughter of Heidi and Duane Emans, will be entering her senior year at
Crestview High School. There, she is a member of FCCLA, a Varsity Girls
Basketball Statistician, a member of the softball team, Academic Red club, and
the honor roll. Cheyenne 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 Jr.
Fair Board Member Award for the previous two years. Six of the seven years
Cheyenne 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, Cheyenne
wishes to attend the University of Akron to pursue her Masters of Science 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. Lauren
has participated in Greenhand, Cooperative Education, Parliamentary Procedure,
and was on the 2014 Farm Business Management state championship team,
individually placing 7th in the state. She has taken show cattle
through Beef It Up 4-H club for 5 years and through FFA for 4 years. Her sixth
year participating in 4-H, she was a 4-H ambassador and a camp counselor.
Lauren actively attends Trinity United Methodist Church and is an active member
of the youth group and volunteers with child care 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. Lauren enjoys
working on the farm with her father and working with her fair projects. She
also enjoys playing travel softball, going to bonfires and spending time with
her friends and family. Lauren 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. Her school involvements include being a member of the
Fellowship of Christian Athletes, varsity football cheerleading, varsity
softball, and wrestling stats. She has been an FFA member from 2012-Present and
holds the position as Vice President for 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-Present and currently holds the position of President for
her club. He 4-H project is taking beef feeders to the Van Wert Fair. Sophie is
also a 4-H camp counselor, a member of the Jr. Fair Board and the 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, OH where she is an active member in Golf, 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 there. She is an active volunteer in
the 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 showing
them. Taylor is excited to be presented with the opportunity to run for Fair
Queen.
Also new this year is the
Species Prince or Princess, in which there are five candidates for. The king
and queen and runners-up will be crowned first followed by the species prince
or princess. Those candidates are Sophie Wilson, Lauren Schmid, Tara Vorst,
Amanda Lobsiger, and Leah Lichtensteiger.
Tara Vorst, the 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 where she is President of
the Student Council. She is also a member of National Honor Society, Varsity
Basketball, 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 of her life and has shown them since she
was three. She has been in 4-H for eleven 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 she got 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 to do barrel racing.
Leah Lichtensteiger is the
daughter of David and Janice Lichtensteiger. She graduated from Crestview High
School. While a student there, she was actively involved in the school’s
Agriculture/FFA program. She was a member for four years, during those years
she competed on the multiple Career Development Events, CDE’s. Her freshman
year she participated in the Greenhand test, Parliamentary Procedure, and
Equine Management judging. Her sophomore year she took part in the Cooperative
Education Test, Parliamentary Procedure and once again Equine Management
judging. Her junior year she took part in the Farm Business Management, where
the 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. Senior year, she took
part in Equine Management judging and Parliamentary Procedure and got the
opportunity to go to Nationals with the Farm Business Management team. Outside
of school Leah has two horses that she shows in barrel racing. She has
qualified for State twice and in 2012 placed in the top ten. She also runs at
the All American Quarter Horse Congress in October. When she isn’t with the
horses, she helps her dad and uncle around the farm with various jobs.
