Two Orion area girls will vie for the title of Miss Henry County Fair Queen at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, June 23, in the grandstand at the Henry County Fairgrounds in Cambridge. Melissa Blumenshein, 20, of Coal Valley is the daughter of Kirk and Kandra Blumenshein of Coal Valley.
Amelia Martens, 17, is the daughter of Patrick and Annette Martens of Orion.
A 2007 graduate of Orion High School, Blumenshein is studying elementary education at Black Hawk College, Moline.
Blumenshein plans to have her associate degree by January 2010 and transfer to Western Illinois University.
She wants to teach in elementary school or work with children.
At OHS Blumenshein played four years of softball. She also spent four years on ASA teams and one year on the Ashford University squad. She now plays on a co-ed slow pitch team.
Blumenshein also was in band and color guard at OHS for four years. She served as color guard captain during two marching band seasons.
During the last three years, she has worked with pre-school children at a day care center. She will teach a class of 2-year-olds this summer.
Blumenshein enjoys reading, needlepoint, hanging out with friends and family, and shopping.
Martens will be a senior at Orion High School this fall. After graduation, she plans to earn a bachelor’s degree in communications and attend law school.
Martens’ personal interests include pageantry, law, health, fitness, journalism, politics and agriculture.
A pageant veteran, she was the first runnerup in the fair queen contest last year. She was second runner-up in the Junior Miss Henry County Fair Queen contest in 2006.
At the Miss Mississippi Crown pageant two years ago, Martens was named Outstanding Teen. In the state Outstanding Teen contest, she was second runnerup.
Martens is a 4.0 student at Orion High School, where her activities include Student Council, Executive Council, National Honor Society, band and FFA.
She was chosen for the Illinois Music Educators Association’s All-District band every fall from 2004 through 2008, and she earned Superior I ratings on solo performances in Illinois Grade School Music Association and Illinois High School Association state contests for five years.
Martens is the Orion FFA chapter president and has served as reporter and Greenhand president.
In 2008, she was named one of the top 10 FFA reporters in Illinois. That same year she was a finalist in the statewide GROWMARK essay contest.
She has won FFA awards in public speaking, parliamentary procedure, ag sales, ag issues and job interview contests.
