SfCigdCigfit Qj/ear ofor s ty'ainj princess JOYCE BUPP York County Correspondent AIRVILLE (York Co.) Diffi cult as it is to imagine, Pennsyl vania state dairy princess Rae chel Kilgore was not even sure she wanted to compete for a county dairy princess position a year ago. “Dairy judging was my priori ty last year,” said Raechel of her initial reluctance to try for the York County crown. During an intense several months before that, Raechel wrapped up an ex tremely successful series of dairy judging wins with a first-place finish at the national competi tion, during the October 2001 World Dairy Expo. While Raechel and her older sister Rebecca shared many inter ests, she nevertheless felt a little uncertainty about following “Becky’s” footsteps, as she had in many previous activities. Becky had been a county and state al ternate princess a few years earlier. “So it was coming down to the wire last year for filling out the application, and I still hadn’t de cided,” Raechel said. She was en couraged by family and many in dustry friends to run for the position and, at almost the last moment, signed and submitted the dairy princess form. That last-minute decision propelled her to wear the sparkling tiara at the finale of the state princess contest in Harrisburg in Septem ber. “Becky was really happy for me,” said Raechel of Becky’s en thusiastic support for her. Becky is completing her degree as a chemical engineer at Rose-Hul man Institute of Technology. “The whole year has been a highlight,” Raechel said. She was unable to pin point a favorite from multiple appearances during a whirl- wind schedule that has taken her to several surrounding states and doz- ens of in-state events repre senting the dairy industry. Learning how neighboring states operate their princess and promotion programs has been especially interesting to Raechel, since Despite her busy schedule, Pennsylvania Dairy Prin cess Raechel Kilgore still pitches in to help at the barn when she is home. One of Raechei’s jobs is looking after the 4-H and FFA show animals. program size and require- ments have a varying range. “But we all promote dairy, re gardless of how the programs op erate,” she said. Raechel, Rebecca, and brother, Christopher, are the children of Pam and Doug Kilgore. The Kil gore’s McCalls Ferry farm, near Airville, has been in the family for a couple of generations, milk ing cows and farming crops on land high above the western cliffs of the Susquehanna River, in southeastern York County. The Kilgore family has a long history of participation in industry and community leadership activities. Doug is a primary election candi PiSm I \\ \ r M ' i - I _2: The Kilgore family has always been active in agriculture and agriculture activities, and is especially supportive of youth programs. With state dairy princess Raechel are her brother, Christopher, and sister, Rebecca, and parents Doug and Pam. date for York County commis sioner. Typical of dairy farm young sters, Raechel began helping with chores, such as feeding calves, at a young age. Tending to 4-H show animals became another re sponsibility she assumed as she grew old enough to join the pro gram and exhibit project calves. When she was eight, Rachael got her first opportunity to work with dairy promotion, as one of the county’s “little dairy miss” participants. Junior members of the county’s dairy promotion team often help at major events and activities. Parade appear ances to promote milk and help ing with the annual Ice Cream Day at the Courthouse promo tion left a significant mark on her memories as a little girl. During Becky’s dairy princess reign, Raechel became much more familiar with the promotion activities and commitment re quired by dairy princesses. She helped Becky compile her scrap book for the state competition and often did the chores for both of them, such as looking after show calves, when appearances took Becky away from the farm. “Her involvement really helped me to see what the pro gram was all about,” Raechel said. With that boost of enthusi asm for promotion, she served in 2001-02 as a county dairy ambas sador. Fulfilling both her state and county princess responsibilities concurrently has kept Raechel’s schedule crammed with events. School promotions, including “li brary readings,” have been espe cially intense the last few weeks in the county, while state appear ances kept her away many days throughout the fall and winter months. “When I’m not busy with state func tions, we do the county ac tivities. I have missed about one-third of my school year,” said Raechel, who works hard to keep her schoolwork a priority de spite her other commitments. She is on Red Lion’s distin guished honor roll, member of the school’s National Honor Society chapter, and an Elite Eigh teen student. She is a member of Red Lion FFA and has won nu merous honors representing the chapter at dairy judging and public speaking events. Raechel’s ability to so ably maintain her scholastic achievements while fulfilling her dairy princess responsibilities has not been lost on her Red Lion Area senipr-class peers. In early May, they elected her queen of their senior class prom. Raechel’s 4-H career has been equally accomplished, capped with her earning national high individual dairy judging honors in 2001. She was named out standing county 4-H’er in 2001 and represented Pennsylvania at both the National 4-H Congress and the National 4-H Dairy Con ference in 2002. Having achieved the national judging title, Rae chel now shares her skills in teaching, and helping to coach the county dairy judging team. While her county appearances will end with the crowning of her successor, Raechel still has nu merous state functions to attend throughout the summer months. Attending many of them with her will be the two alternate state princesses, Rachel Ebert from Westmoreland County and Ash ley Chapman, Erie County. “They’ve become like sisters to me,” said Raechel of Rachel and Ashley. “We have traveled to- Fulfilling her state dairy princess role has resulted in Raechel Kilgore’s being a “parttime” student this school year. She has still managed to remain scholastically near the top of her Red Lion Area High School class and was recently elected senior prom queen by her peers. gether alot and gotten very close.” In fact, soon after her prom queen crowning, Raechel called these two close friends who had insisted she let them know immediately the outcome of the prom court selection. Even while Raechel’s state reign is winding down through its last few months, she is preparing for her next major life step, col lege. Raechel plans to major in animal science, and possibly minor in ag communications. Making her final choice has been difficult, with Penn State and Cornell in the final running. Though she spent many days since September living out of suitcases and sleeping in hotels, Raechel still pitches in with farm chores on those rare days when she does get to spend a little time at home. There are her six show animals to care for, calf feeding, and helping to milk the Kilgore’s 40 cows. In a message included in the recent newsletter to York County dairy farmers from the promo tion committee, Raechel summed up her whirlwind county reign coming to a close. “My time as the York County Dairy Princess and the Pennsyl vania Dairy Princess has been one of the best years of my life,” she wrote. “Although I have been extremely busy, basically being a part-time high school student on the side, the experiences that I have had are unforgettable. I have enjoyed attending various events throughout the county, all to represent our local dairy in dustry. I am especially grateful for all of the support that I have had over the past few months. The committee, my junior repre sentatives, and all of the support ers of the dairy industry have helped to encourage me through these busy times. It is hard to imagine that my county title will go on to another deserving young lady. I doubt that I will ever for get my role as a promoter of the dairy industry.”
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