News : Seven candidates hope to be 2017 Benton County Fair Queen

Seven young ladies have entered the 2017 Fair Queen Contest for the Benton County Fair, which begins in less than two weeks, on July 12. One of them will be crowned Benton County Fair Queen on Thursday, July 13. Vinton residents met them during Party in the Park, when they volunteered to help with kids' activities outside the courthouse on Thursday and later rode in the Party in the Park Parade. Below are the Queen candidate profiles, in alphabetical order, and in their own words: Macy Arbuckle Macy Arbuckle Macy Arbuckle is the daughter of Jim and Carol Arbuckle of Vinton. She has four siblings, Brittany, Cali, Nash, and Mili; she is also a proud aunt to her two nieces, Tenli and Zayli. She is homeschooled along with her two other siblings still at home. Macy is 18 years old and will be a senior this coming school year. At this time she is unsure what she wants to do after high school but hope to spend some time exploring different career fields and maybe even getting some hands-on opportunities. Macy likes to keep active by jogging with her dog, taking long nature walks, and kayaking or canoeing. She has also enjoyed trying to improve her abilities on her new-found sport, slacklining. Free time also included reading a good book and playing her musical instruments. Hanging out with friends and family is another one of her favorite past times, especially when there is a fun activity going on. Most of all she loves to embrace opportunities in which she can learn or try something new. She is a member of the Eldorado Young Master Farmers 4-H Club and has been in 4H for the past 8 yrs. Macy really enjoys when an opportunity arises to do service work in and around her community. She embraces the chance to meet new people and explore new adventures. This year Macy received the honor of being selected to represent East Central Iowa REC on a week-long youth tour to Washington DC to learn about cooperatives. American history, and government. She was also privileged to be chosen by the American Legion Auxiliary to attend Girls' State at Drake University to get a better understanding how our state government functions. Both opportunities were an amazing learning and life experience. A highlight of every year is taking part in the homeschool drama production. This year Macy had the pleasure of playing on of the main roles in the productions of "Merriweather Academy for Exceptional Young Ladies"�. She was also one of the student collaborators involved in writing the original script. In 2013, Macy received a scholarship from the Iowa Honey Producers Association to set up a bee hive while being mentored. She continued beekeeping until her hives collapsed during the 2016 winter, but still enjoys the task of teaching and mentoring others about bees. She loves helping out at her church, Oak Grove Church. She serves in different capacities including running sound and lights, leading the children's singing program and playing various instruments with the worship band. Macy is excitedly looking forward to the fair and the opportunity to be involved in the Queen Competition! Jaidyn Ballard Jaidyn Ballard Cheerleader, Future Farmers of America (FFA) member, Faith Formation teacher, iSTEP (Iowa Students for Tobacco Education and Prevention) executive council member, 2017 ANTSO Miss Iowa National Teenager and all around fun loving teenager. That's me, Jaidyn Ballard. Soon to be a junior at Benton Community High School, I am very active in my local community, school, church and family; and love speech, drama and making people laugh. Some of my best moments include making the varsity cheer team, participating at the State level in both Speech and FFA CDE Creed speaking competitions, and teaching summer Faith Formation classes with my church. Through my memberships in many local, state and national organizations, I have been honored to participate in a number of community service activities. One of the most memorable was my first visit to a women and children's shelter in Las Vegas, NV during CADCA Training. It was called "The Shade Tree"� and we watched the children so that the mothers could have a night off to just relax and play bingo with their fellow women. As part of the ANTSO group, I have also enjoyed volunteering at the Open Door Mission, Special Olympics and Miss Amazing pageant organizations. Although I participate in many activities, I am also very family oriented. I love spending time in the garage with my dad and my Uncle Scott building things and fixing cars, and laughing with my Mom while making videos of our crazy family - usually starring my little sister. Other favorite family time activities are helping my Grandpa on the farm, baking with my Grandma, summer canning with my Great Grandma, and going trout fishing with my Great Papa Haage in what he calls "God's Country"� up north in Garnavillo, Iowa. If chosen to be the next Benton County Fair Queen, I will do my best to promote Benton County in the best way possible and make sure that I am a positive role model for all the women and girls in our beautiful county. Machaela Ingalls Machaela Ingalls My name is Machaela Ingalls and I am the daughter of Loren and Patricia Ingalls. I have two older brothers Aaron and Tristan. I also have a younger sister Emily. I live outside of Van Horne and attend Benton Community and will be a junior in the fall. After I graduate high school I plan on attending Iowa State and majoring in Agricultural engineering with a minor in Agricultural Education. I am actively involved in 4-H currently serving as our club's Treasurer and on the Benton County Youth 4-H council. I am also involved in FFA currently serving as our chapter's Vice President. Throughout my two years in FFA I have also served as treasurer and received many awards such as Star Greenhand my freshman year and Outstanding Sophomore my second year. I have participated in many Career Development Events with my favorite being individual Ag Sales where I received a Gold at Sub- Districts and a Silver at Districts. I also participate in Show Choir, Choir, Track and Field, Volleyball, and Basketball. I spend a lot of my time working with my rabbits and my Dairy heifers in the summer getting them ready to show at the Benton County fair and the Iowa State Fair.   Piper LaGrange Piper LaGrange Piper LaGrange is the daughter of Brice and Tricia LaGrange of Amana, Iowa. Piper has two younger twin sisters, Trinity and Raynee LaGrange. This fall she will be a junior at Benton Community High School. She is a third year member of the color guard; where she devotes much of her extracurricular time. Piper is also a member of concert band, speech, and choir. She is currently her class president and vice president of the Florence Hawkeyes 4H club. She is an Academic Award recipient and has lettered in speech and band. Outside of school she enjoys being outside and spending time with her horse, Sally and her bottle calves. She hopes to be a role modle and positive influence for Benton County.     Indy Lea Seifert Indy Lea Seifert My name is Indy Lea Seifert. I am the daughter of Erin Seifert and Kevin Noel of Atkins. I have two older sisters, Coreen and Harley and one younger brother Tyler. I live in Atkins and am currently a junior at Benton Community High School. I am very outgoing, and am a very friendly person. I care about my friends and family, and I do what I think is right for the people I care about. I always fight for what I believe in and I think I would make a great representative for our beautiful County. I am currently working at Hy-Vee and hope to pursue a position in management there after obtaining a degree in management at Kirkwood Community College. I also plan on studying at the University of Iowa to pursue a degree in Business Management. Currently I am involved in FFA and cheerleading at my high school. This year I also volunteered to be on our schools prom committee. During the summers I am a volunteer at the Atkins library working with the young readers' summer reading program. I have become strong enough to be myself and not worry about what others think. I demonstrated this by having the courage to walk down the grand march by myself at my high school's prom. When I think of the term "�Queen"� I think of Princess Diana, the qualities I have mentioned before ae some of the qualities Diana would have had to make a great Queen.   Sophie Selk Sophie Selk My name is Sophie Selk. My Parents are Robert Selk and Sharon Sebetka. I have older two sisters, Gretchen Selk and Sarah Sebetka. My sister Gretchen is a full time student at Kirkwood Community College, and Sarah works at the Colorado Equine Clinic in Littleton, Colorado. I 'm living with my mother in Mt. Auburn and I am currently attending Union High School. At school I am involved in many activities. I really enjoy FFA, which has allowed me to participate in Courtesy Corps, Ag Issues, Equine Evaluation, Floriculture and Conduct of Meeting. For my first year in Robotics, our team has already gone to the world finals in St. Louis. I am in German Club, and am planning to travel to Germany the summer of my senior year. I have received the awards of: Perfect Attendance 2014-2017, A Honor Roll 2014-2017, FFA Greenhand Degree 2014, FFA Chapter Degree 2015, State Speech 2014- 2017. I am planning on graduating in 2018. After high school, I am planning on attending an in-state College for a Doctorate in a Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) program.   Katy Ward Katy Ward My name is Katy Ward. I am the daughter of Jon and Diana Ward and I have four younger siblings that show at the fair with me. I live on small acreage a mile off Highway 30 outside of Elberon and I attended Belle Plaine Community High School where I graduated this past May. I plan on attending Kirkwood Community College in the fall to obtain my Agriculture Business and Agriculture Production degrees. I hope to earn my degrees at the end of three years along with a coaching license. While at Kirkwood I plan on joining the Ag business club and working on the student run farm. I am extremely excited to join one of the best Ag programs in the nation. I have had many leadership roles in and out of high school over my high school career. I have been a leader in sports, FFA, and the Win With Wellness team at my school. My leadership skills in FFA started at the end of my freshmen year when I applied to be on the officer team and became the Officer at Large. This officer position required me to know all the other officer positions and be ready to fill in any one of them at any point I needed to. I helped write articles to send to the newspaper, took pictures at different group events and helped organize different events like AG Olympic and a Meals from the Heartland Food Packaging. Since my role as Officer at Large, I have been the Vice President and President of Belle Plaine FFA. Both the Vice President and President roles have taught me a little bit more about being a leader. I have been to countless leadership conferences and camps over my four years in FFA including 3 years of Chapter Officer Leadership Training meeting with several other chapter officers in the region. I am also very strong leader in sports as well as FFA. I was the captain of the JV volleyball team for my freshmen, sophomore, and junior years and captain of the varsity team my senior year. I was also the captain of the varsity basketball team my senior year. Although I wasn't a captain my junior year, I was one of the strong leaders on the varsity softball team that, for the first time in school history, made it the state softball tournament and placed 6th in 1A class. The newest things I have been involved in my junior and senior year of high school are student council and Win With Wellness leadership teams both of which encourage the student body to become leaders in their own lives and in the community. This past November I presented the Daughter of the American Revolution award at the Veterans Day assembly. At the senior awards night I was presented the U.S. Army Reserve National Scholar/Athlete Award. I was also recognized by several sports awards for utility, team spirit and hard working in all three of my varsity sports. Outside of school I am also the President of the local 4H Club and I am a member on the County Council youth committee that organizes different county wide event sand help run shows at the county fair. Not only am I a member of the committee, I am the committee spokesperson that gets to sit in on and vote in Friends of 4H and the 4H foundation meetings all of which lead back to helping 4H members in Benton County grow. All of the different leadership roles I have been given over my high school career have shaped me into the leader I am today. I think I am a leader that leaders by example. I feel someone who leads by example is the strongest kind of leader because they aren't standing on top of a pedestal telling people what to do. They are standing on the ground doing what needs to be done. This shows people that yo practive what you preach. I want to focus most of my time on my studies, but any extra time I have I hope to join a high school basketball coaching staff and help coach young people. I feel sports are a very important influence on students' lives. To me sports teach kids basic skills they will use their whole lives from leadership and teamwork to mental strength and appreciating everything you have. I hope to one day I will be able to help positively influence kids' lives and make a difference in their lives like so many people have done for me.