Pageant Press: A Fifth and Final Trip to Miss Ohio
A Fifth and Final Trip to Miss Ohio
On November 5, 2005 in Maumee Ohio, Abby Bollenbacher secured her fifth and final rhinestone ticket to compete in the Miss Ohio Scholarship Program. The title and crown of Miss Maumee Valley also included a $1,000 scholarship and a $500 photo package with Gallippo’s photography. Bollenbacher was contestant number eight of fifteen and also won the $250 Donna Jenkins Memorial Interview Award and $250 Talent Award sponsored by Leslie Norris Townsend. For her talent, she performed the song “Funny Honey” from Chicago.
The daughter of Tim and Vickie L. Bollenbacher, Abby is a 2000 graduate of Parkway High school. In the spring she will graduate with a Bachelors of Arts in Communications Degree, in Theatre from Bowling Green State University. For her pageant platform, Bollenbacher uses her own ups-and-downs in her college experience to mentor other students toward a more successful higher education career. Aside from her pageant platform, Abby has set up a charity Blog (web-log, or journal), http://vicesforvictims.blogspot.com, to inspire giving to hurricane victims.
For one fleeting week, Abby is bearing two local titles in the Miss America system; this Saturday (November 12, 2005) she will “give up” the title Miss Northwestern Ohio. The pageant will be held in the Defiance Community Auditorium at 7:30 p.m. and Bollenbacher will co-emcee and entertain along with the reigning Miss Ohio, Marlia Fontaine.
Bollenbacher’s previous titles include Miss Lake Festival 2001, Miss Lorain County 2002, Miss Miami Valley 2003 and Miss Northwestern Ohio 2004. Her family jokes that since she has already been Miami Valley, the new title Maumee Valley might be confusing! Ironically, the past four years of local competition have all resulted in Abby winning the second local she has competed in each season. Including her first pageant, the Van Wert Peony pageant and trips to Miss Ohio, she has competed in seventeen pageants in six years and has won over $10,000 in scholarships to finance her education.
While Bollenbacher’s goals are to win Miss Ohio in June of 2006 and ultimately become Miss America, she is immediately excited about holding a local title that is literally local to her. Even when she held the hometown title of Miss Lake Festival, she was actually away at college for the most of her reign. For the first time, she is literally living in the community that her title represents (the greater Toledo area) and is eager to make regular appearances and speaking and singing engagements, as that is what as Miss Ohio and Miss America do.
Throughout her reign as Miss Northwestern Ohio, she kept a Blog about her experiences and has already started a new Blog for her new title, http://beingmissmaumeevalley.blogspot.com. Miss Maumee Valley also has an official website, http://www.missmaumeevalley.com/index.php.
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