Miss West Duluth 2012 Crowned at Spirit Valley Days

Congratulations to the newest royalty!  Last night Miss West Duluth 2012, Mary Schuldt and Miss West Duluth Princess 2012, Kasa Gellerstedt were crowned.   Ramsey Square was packed for the pageant, part of the Spirit Valley Days kick off.

I had the honor of being one of the judges for the Miss West Duluth Pageant.  It was an incredibly tough job.  This was my third time judging, and this year was also one of the most difficult.  Any one of the girls would have done a fantastic job representing the West Duluth community for the next year.

I'd like to point out a few things I admired about each of the contestants.

Kaitlyn Erickson

Although she was the youngest contestant in the pageant, I had no idea until she told me.  Kaitlyn has an incredible amount of maturity for her age!  And a girl who says that her mom is her biggest role model will win me over every time.

Chloe LaFont

One of the things she told me about herself is that she used to be shy--but now she's on the Speech Team at Denfeld! You can't see that shy girl in her anymore, she looked so comfortable up on that stage.  Chloe also captured the title of "Miss Congeniality."

Shania Krause

You can tell Shania is a girl with a big heart.  Her volunteer work, giving back to the community, and her faith are just a few on the list of many things that stood out.

Joni Thompson-Mullen

One thing that I admire about Joni are her goals.  She told me in our interview that she's heading off to college in the fall with a goal to teach Ojibwe.  Her pride for her culture was apparent in not only her interview, her formal gown essay, and throughout the pageant.

Kasa Gellerstedt-Miss West Duluth Princess

One of the first things I noticed about Kasa is her smile. ( That is, after her I noticed her skills parallel parking! :) ) As a matter of fact, I'm pretty sure I haven't seen her without one yet.  You can tell Kasa really loves and has extreme pride in the West Duluth community.

Mary Schuldt-Miss West Duluth

Mary was my first interview on Tuesday night.  She was so comfortable, and all of her answers were so genuine.  Her pride in her community, her school, and positive outlook in everything is apparent, and I have no doubt that she will be an excellent ambassador for West Duluth!

Congratulations to all the girls on a fantastic job representing West Duluth!

Don't forget to wave to the girls during the Spirit Valley Days Parade tonight!