2009 - 2010 PA State Dairy Princess Royalty

2009 - 2010 PA State Dairy Princess WinnersKrystal Wasson (center in picture), a 16-year-old Centre County student, has been chosen as the 53rd Pennsylvania Dairy Princess.

The daughter of Ronald and Candace Wasson of State College, Wasson was crowned Saturday from among 25 county dairy princesses after a three-day competition.

Contestants were judged on public speaking skills, knowledge of the dairy industry, poise and personality. Each contestant prepared a speech and skit promoting milk and dairy products, and participated in a personal interview with a panel of four judges.

Winners were chosen in three categories – speech, skit and scrapbook. Wasson was a runner-up in the speech category and received an honorable mention in the skit category. 

She was crowned by outgoing Pennsylvania Dairy Princess LeeAnn Kapanick of Crawford County.

A junior at State College High School, Wasson works on her family’s 800-acre dairy farm with 45-head of cattle, three of which she owns. She is involved in 4-H and FFA, and is a member of the Pennsylvania Junior Holstein Association and the Pennsylvania Junior Red & White Association. 

In school, Wasson is a majorette, varsity wrestling manager, and an honor roll student. She is also involved in many clubs and activities. 

Two alternates were chosen to support the new princess. The first alternate is 17-year-old Karla Stoltzfus (left in picture) of Bedford County. The daughter of Ken and Dena Stoltzfus, she is a senior at Bedford High School where she is active in 4-H, FFA, the National Technical Honor Society and the United Way. The Stoltzfus family farms 650 acres where they raise Angus beef cattle and milk 65 Jersey cows. Stoltzfus owns seven dairy animals herself. 

Stoltzfus was an honorable mention scrapbook winner and was crowned by outgoing first alternate Nicole Wasson of Centre County.

Chosen as second alternate, Lebanon County’s Crystal Hitz (right in picture) is the 17-year-old daughter of Steven and Cynthia Hitz of Annville. The family farms 110 acres and milks 40 Holsteins. A senior at Annville-Cleona High School, Hitz is active in tennis, honor society and the Little Dutchman FFA, where she serves as treasurer. 

Hitz was a skit winner and honorable mention scrapbook winner. She was crowned by outgoing second alternate Abby Trotter of Lawrence County.

In addition to Wasson, Stoltzfus and Hitz, four other finalists were chosen:

Other skit winners included runner-up Lena Aiken of Mercer County and honorable mention Sarah Field of Crawford County. Blair County’s Kristin Bigelow and Somerset County’s Melissa Paul were honorable mention speech winners.

Jennifer Leanne Curtis of Warren County was the scrapbook winner, and honorable mention scrapbook winners were Rebecca Cratty from Butler County and Terri Kauffman of Lancaster County.

Erie County’s Michaela Downes was voted “Miss Congeniality” by the other county princesses.

Anna Flick, the 2008-09 Butler County dairy princess, was named the Tina M. Shultz Memorial Award winner.  Flick completed 421 promotions reaching more than 84,600 consumers and traveling 6,416 miles within Butler County. She is the 18-year-old daughter of Randall and Elizabeth Flick of Fenelton, and is a freshman at Butler County Community College. Her sister, Abby, won the award last year.

The four overall judges were Shelly Mayer, Slinger, Wis.; Les Hardesty, Greeley, Colo.; Sanford Stauffer, Nicholville, N.Y.; and Cindy Warner, Frederick, Md.

Speech judges were Betsy Huber, Lemoyne, Pa.; John Frey, Harrisburg, Pa.; and Lou Sallie, Camp Hill, Pa.

Scrapbook judges were Penny Brammer, Mechanicsburg, Pa., and Laurie Savage, Dickerson, Md.

Kirk Sattazahn of Myerstown, Lebanon County, served as master of ceremonies.

For the next year, the new state royalty team will represent Pennsylvania’s dairy industry and its 8,500 dairy farm families. The dairy industry is the state’s top agriculture industry, contributing $5.8 billion and 40,000 jobs to the state’s economy.