86-Lanc«ster Farming, Saturday, February 12, 2000
Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy
JAYNE SEBRIGHT
Lancaster Farming Staff
AIRVILLE (York Co.) Re
becca Kilgore of Airville is living
proof that the “Little Dairy
Miss” program generates future
stars in the dairy princess pro
gram.
17-year-old Kilgore was the
York County Little Dairy Miss
in 1991-92 with then-dairy prin
cess Penny Jordan Snyder.
“I always looked up to her
and thought she did such a good
job,” said Kilgore. So, when the
committee approached her
about running for princess last
May, she decided to follow in
Snyder’s footsteps.
A year later Kilgore is not
only the York County Dairy
Princess, but also Pennsylvania
Alternate Dairy Princess.
“I never expected to do so
well at the state pageant,” said
Kilgore. “I kept beating myself
up during the competition,
thinking I could have done ev
erything better.”
At the end of the pageant, Kil
gore was really pleased with the
job she did. “There were a lot of
excellent girls there,” said Kil
gore. “It was really neat to hear
my mom screamed when they
called my name.”
Kilgore is the daughter of
Doug and Pam Kilgore. Doug
farms with his parents Gene and
Doris Kilgore on a 120-cow
dairy farm. Kilgore has two sib
lings, 15-year-old Raechael and
6-year-old Christopher.
Kilgore’s mom Pam has been
active in the dairy promotion
Kilgore stands with one of her favorite 4-H projects, a
Holstein heifer named Rapzbery.
committee over the years, serv
ing as York County coordinator
for four years. Now Pam stays
busy helping Rebecca with both
her county and state activities.
“People keep telling me that I
have no idea how proud my par
ents are of me,” said Kilgore.
“They don’t get mad at me
when I miss a bunch of school,
and they even drove me to dairy
princess activities when 1 was
too sick to drive myself.”
Kilgore has been all over the
state with her dairy princess ac
tivities. But some of her favorite
happened right in York County
during the 250 anniversary of
York County.
“1 got to help with Manches
ter Old Time Days,” said Kil
gore. “I had a milk mustache
picture taken with Secretary
Sam Hayes and the county com
missioners for the commemora
tive booklet.”
Kilgore spent the day taking
milk mustache photos for chil
dren attending Old Time Days,
which was held in August.
She also got to meet Miss
York County Vanessa Jordan
when she went to Clearfield Ele
mentary School. The school was
participating in a cafeteria deco
rating contest.
“I gave them cow coloring
pictures to hang up and handed
out milk carton erasers,” said
Kilgore “Their theme for the
cafeteria was ‘Mooving into the
Millennium with milk.’ ”
On the state level, Kilgore has
attended several meetings and
spent a week at the infamous
Farm Show. “I was the only one
Princess Fell For Program At A Young Age
Kilgore shows off her “Yield to the princess” license plate cover on her car.
She has spent a lot of time in that car traveling from promotion to promotion.
out of the three state dairy
princesses who didn’t get sick.”
She also helped the local
Dairy Council hand out milk
steamers at both the Harrisburg
Marathon and the Philadelphia
Marathon Health Expo.
“I really enjoyed going to
Philadelphia for the marathon,”
said Kilgore. “Now I actually
know the difference between a
cappuccino, latte, and espresso.
And I can make them.”
Kilgore got to meet people
from all around the country and
throughout the world during the
marathons. “A lot of people
didn’t even know what a dairy
princess was,” she said.
Kilgore plans to visit local ele
mentary schools during the
spring. The two York County
Alternate Dairy Princesses, Mi
chelle Walker of East Berlin and
Holly Rankin of Red Lion, help
Kilgore to meet the state incen
tive requirements and will be
visiting local schools, too.
“It’s really nice to have two
county alternates who can help
out when I am busy doing state
activities,” Kilgore said. “One
day there were even three pro
motions in the county, and we
were scattered all over.”
After graduating from high
school, Kilgore will attend the
Rose Hulman Institute of Tech
nology in Terre Hoate, Indiana.
She wants to be a chemical engi
neer.
“Chemistry has always been
my favorite subject,” said Kil
gore. “The engineering part
comes in because I don’t want to
teach I want to make things.”
Kilgore plans to work in vet
erinarian pharmaceuticals. “Al
though I won’t be directly
,J\ V w
Kilgore’s little brother Christopher is pretty proud
his big sister and her crown. He accompanies her
some of the promotions.
%
- ~.h
working in agriculture, I will be
helping develop products that
farmers can use,” she said.
Although being dairy princess
may not help Kilgore in the
chemical engineering industry,
she does feel that she has tre
mendously benefited from the
program.
“The people I met and the
things I’ve done have given me a
broader sense of what’s going on
in the world and in the dairy in
dustry,” Kilgore said.
“I’ve gotten more involved in
(Turn to Pago BIO)
y