(7-1-24) Eight contestants will compete to become the 2024 Miss Lake Festival. The pageant is scheduled for July 21st with the pre-show starting at 6pm at the Harley Jones Amphitheater.

The Candidates

Contestant #1 Paige Kuehne

SPONSORED BY: Spartan Crop Insurance – Adam Schleucher

Paige will be a sophomore at the University of Cincinnati where she majors in elementary education in hopes of becoming an Elementary Teacher after graduation!

Her Community Service Initiative is Be Here: Your Attendance Matters ; She chose this because she is passionate about the education of America and the issue of chronic absenteeism stands as a large barrier. Paige is involved with the Learning Commons at UC and loves to take cycle classes and support a variety of sports at UC!

Paige shared-

“I am so excited to grow a relationship with my Little Miss girls and grow as a person!”

Contestant #2 Francesca Steinbrunner

SPONSORED BY: La Carreta

Francesca will be a freshman at Ball State University where she is majoring in biology and joining their pre PA program in hopes of one day becoming a Physician Assistant!

Her Community Service Initiate is Advocating for the Elderly: She chose this because she is currently an STNA at Vancrest of Vanwert and she first-hand sees the issues that the elderly face on a day to day basis. It is something that she is very passionate about because of the connections she has with her residents.

Outside of work she is an STNA at Vancrest of Vanwert, she and her friends made up a pickle ball league, she was a high school basketball player, student athletic trainer and is involved at St. Theresas’s Catholic Church.

Francesca shares-

“I am so excited to learn all about pageant life as a first time pageant contestant!”

Contestant #3 Olivia M. Kentner

SPONSORED BY: Lake Contracting

Via is a University of Cincinnati Graduate and hopes to become a law student! One day Via hopes to either be a Fox News Reporter or an Elected Official.

Her Community Service Initiative is Ready Set Graduate! It inspires, prepares, and educates students on the opportunities they can take after graduation; workforce, military, trade/vocational school, and college. There is a large gap in education when it comes to preparing students for life after graduation. Coming from rural Ohio, she didn’t know the opportunities she had except for what she viewed on tv; teacher, doctor, nurse, lawyer. As a tutor at the University of Cincinnati and teaching assistant at local schools she noticed every student is struggling to figure out what they want to be when they grow up. There wasn’t a curriculum at the time or many resources to help students in making one of the biggest decisions of their lives. This is when she knew change needed to happen and as a result, Ready Set Graduate was formed.

Via is involved in Girls on the Run, Big Brothers Big Sisters, Junior League, and the Cincinnati Scholarship Foundation!

She shares-

“I am so excited to hangout with everyone competing and getting to perform with my princess! This is my first time competing in Miss Lake Festival and I am so excited to experience it!”

Contestant #4 Hannah Mullins

SPONSORED BY: Reliable Waterproofing

Hannah is a recent 2024 graduate at St Marys Memorial. This fall she will be attending Hondros College for real estate. Hannah is currently employed at Opus Packaging in New Bremen while also working at Marshals in Celina. She is a boutique owner and I ship my apparel all over the United States. Hannah hopes to one day be a Real Estate Agent and Investor.

Hannah’s community service initiative is “it takes a community, no one fights alone.” Her CSI mainly focuses on bringing communities together when times get hard. She personally has watched her community pull together when her mom was affected with cancer and she believes everyone should have the same done to them if faced with the same situation. It’s hard enough to have this happen to your family but the show of love and support from the community can make the world of difference to someone facing these challenges.

Hannah shared-

“I’m most looking forward to meeting all the girls and just having the experience to be on stage and show my true authentic self!”

Contestant #5 Isabella Mull

SPONSORED BY: Celina Moose Lodge

Isabella is a recent graduate of Celina High School and will be attending Wright State Lake Campus to study Business Marketing in the fall! She currently works at The Barker Shop where she grooms dogs full-time, which she hopes to continue to do! 🐶

Isabella’s Community Service Initiative is Supporting Shelters and Helping Paws! She chose this CSI because she believe animals in shelters deserve just as much love as puppy and kitten breeders. Animals in shelters can become at risk at almost any moment to be euthanized just because shelters need more room. With her CSI even if an animal is at risk to become euthanized she believes that they should live in comfort with toys, beds, blankets, and as much food as they need.

Outside of school she is involved her Church (IC), 4-H club “Dogs R Us”, she helps with little kid soccer programs, and at her moms work “Miller Place”

Isabella is excited for the Miss Lake Festival pageant, sharing-

“I am most looking forward to the relationship I will build with the girls and the everlasting friendships I could make!”

Contestant #6 Kymberlie Kundtz

SPONSORED BY: Celina Eagles

Kymberlie is a sophomore at Wilmington College where she studies Biology with a minor in Chemistry for pre-veterinary in hopes of one day becoming a veterinarian! 🥼

Her Community Service Initiative is “Raising Awareness for the Trap Neuter Release Program in Celina.” She chose this because as a future veterinarian it breaks her heart to see cats out on the streets that have had several litters of kittens. She learned about this program in college and was very excited to see that Celina had their own program. She fully supports any programs that will humanely slow down the growing population of cats in their community.

Kymberlie is the Public Relations in my college’s Veterinarians of Tomorrow group, the president of the crochet club on campus, she works in the library working with very old quaker records, and has recently started riding horses in the hopes of joining my college’s equestrian team!

She shares-

“I am looking forward to forming friendships with the other girls in the pageant and working with my little misses!”

Contestant #7 Arrianna Shinn

SPONSORED BY: The People’s Bank Co.

Arrianna attended Coldwater High School and will be attending Ohio State Beauty Academy in hopes of becoming a cosmetologist.

Her Community Service Initiative is Helping Ohio Through Philanthropy. She chose this initiative because it overlaps multiple initiatives she wants to be involved in and does not set boundaries, allowing her to help everyone!

Arrianna is involved in dance, baton and gymnastics.

Ariana shares that she is most excited-

“For getting the chance to meet all the amazing girls and getting the chance to compete in my hometown pageant”

Contestant #8 Maleah Lee

SPONSORED BY: Celina VFW

Maleah is an upcoming junior at Indiana University! She is majoring in Criminal Justice with a minor in political science. She is hoping to attend McKinney Law School once she is done with her undergrad! Her dream job is to be a lawyer! ⚖️

Her community service initiative is called, “Open A Book, Open Your World”. Maleah’s CSI focuses on the importance to set a foundation of literacy and education. She chose her CSI due to her own personal story to reading. One main part of Maleah’s adoption story is that on ALL her adoption papers, she only has her biological mom’s thumbprint stamp. This is due to her never learning to write her own name, so the way she approved Maleah’s adoption was to stamp her thumbprint on the papers. Knowing about her biological mom’s story, Maleah has made it her mission to help anyone, at any age achieve success through literacy.

A few things Maleah is involved in, involves community service/volunteering! She is a volunteer tutor for a program called, “Seeds of Literacy,” her non-profit called, “A Bundle of Books for Your Bundle of Joy” and a job as a supplemental instructor at her school’s communication center!

Maleah shared-

“This may sound cliche, but I truly am excited for everything about the pageant. The events leading up to the pageant such as the quarter auction or Bella’s waiter night are so much fun and a way to really connect with the community as well as the community getting to know the contestants! I have been competing in pageants since I was 13 years old (time flies!) and Lake Festival was my first local I competed in. Every year, win or lose, I know that the Lake Festival directors and the committee will make the pageant experience so amazing. The people and the connections that you make with the other contestants and the ones involved in helping out is a main reason I keep coming back!”

Tickets

Tickets for the Miss Lake Festival pageant are on sale at the Celina Chamber of Commerce.

Tickets are $15 each and guarantee you a seat should weather force the pageant indoors. There are a limited number of tickets, so once these are sold, the seats indoors are spoken.

🤞🏻 that we are outside and if you miss your chance at a ticket, you can join us at the door! We hope to see you JULY 21 at the amphitheater 🤞🏻

**The chamber will be closed Tuesday and Wednesday but will continue ticket sales Thursday!