Kansas Hereford Royalty: A Very Busy Day!

Dr. Dan with his samples. Yum!

Tuesday got off to an exciting start with the Hereford Bowl written tests. We found out later our team qualified for final buzzer rounds! So proud of our smart Kansas kids!

After that our members got busy to work at their grills in the Great American CHB Grill-off. Not sure about all of them but Dr. Dan Moser was happy to bring us a sample of one of the dishes prepared and it was delicious! We were champs last year and now I know why!

"The Cowgirls," Lauren Gatz, Jalyn Davis and
Kady Pieper, waiting for their turn to play

The day kept chugging along with 3-on-3 basketball. That’s always one of the most fun parts of the week! Unfortunately, our Peewee teams met some tough competition but our intermediate team of Allen Dorrell, Casey Jensen and Luke Prill placed fourth! I was able to watch for some of the games and those kids play hard!

Laney Marple in 3-on-3 basketball

Then came Queen’s Tea, hosted by our National Hereford Queen, Miss Amanda Bacon! This is our first queen activity throughout the week and I was very pleased to see several of our younger Kansas girls join us. We had drinks and cookies and got to decorate satin ribbon banners for the young girls. The girls were challenged to put ribbons and banners in order, a very important part of being a queen. It was so fun to spend time with all our queens-in-training! The girls were also given paper crowns to collect all the queens’ signatures.

With Miss McKenna

Myself with the Nichols girls

After the young girls dispersed, we had queen orientation. Miss Jill Bielema and Miss Denise Billman, our co-chairs, led the meeting with Miss Denise giving a very fun rendition of “what not to do” while in the ring! They explain things such as dress code rules and proper behavior. Miss Amanda then explained some of the finer points of working the ring, right down to walking in step. Needless to say, it was an informative and fun afternoon!

Miranda Edenberg (Illinois), Jessica Lancaster (Idaho),
myself, Ellen Jackson (Missouri), Makayla Rutt (Nebraska)
and Amy Dewoody (Pennsylvania)

We then moved straight into opening ceremonies. Miss Nebraska Teen, Sarah Summers, sang a beautiful rendition of America the Beautiful followed by Miss Rossie Blinson, former NJHA board chair, singing our Nation’s anthem. We then heard from Curtis Tomasevicz, a member of the USA bobsled team that won a gold medal at the 2010 Olympic games. He spoke about coming from a small community and the support found there and not giving up.

Walking in for cemermonies-Luke Prill with the flag

Awards were then awarded for the photography, creative design and poster contests. Our Kansas Juniors certainly made us proud, taking home several awards in photography!

Later that night, we had the junior dance. Most of our kids were in attendance and had a great time dancing the night away! All in all, it was a busy, but fun, day!

Bridget Beran

2011-2012 Kansas Hereford Queen