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.”