Congrats to the New Miss Northwestern Ohio, Becky Minger!

Call the presses! The upcoming BGNews article on Falcon women succeeding in pageants will now include one more- BGSU Journalism and Musical Arts major, Becky Minger! Tonight in Defiance Becky won the Outstanding Talent award and was crowned by Marisa Minor! Miss Northwestern is known for high scholarships and Becky raked it in tonight, earning $1700 total. For talent she sang “Whenever You Remember” popularized by Carrie Underwood and her platform is Building Self-esteem in Youth “It’s not your booty, it’s your inner-beauty.” This is Becky’s second title; as Miss Greater Dayton she was First Runner-up to Melanie Murphy and the Miss Ohio crown this past July.

Becky’s First Runner-up was Heather Waterman of Celina. Heather competed last weekend in Maumee and was a Runner-up at Miss Lake Festival earlier this pageant season. She is a vocalist who advocates Mentoring. She earned a $600 scholarship to further her studies at Wright State University.

The lovely Rachel Maris was Second Runner up and also won the all important Outstanding Interview award and $650 total. Rachel sang “On My Own’ and advocates the importance of vision care for children. She has an undergraduate degree from Ohio Northern University and is now pursuing graduate studies at Rio Grande University (which, is in Ohio, not desert-town-USA.)

Third Runner-up honors and $300 went to Danielle Bash. She is a harpist and fans of former Miss Northwestern Ohio, Amber Stafford would remember the song she performed. Like Amber, Danielle is from Findlay, I didn’t get the chance to ask Danielle if perhaps she knows Amber. Her platform is the Importance of Arts in Schools.

Finally, the Fourth Runner-up was vocalist Samantha Pixler. She earned a $200 scholarship and her platform is Increasing Involvement in School Organizations.

Congratulations to the Miss Northwestern Ohio program for giving out the largest amount of scholarships in their history! No women walks away from this pageant empty handed, each nonfinalist received a $100 scholarship.

The contestant order was as follows:

1. Mellissa Marksberry
2. Abigail Goldsmith
3. Becky Minger
4. Brandy Willoughby
5. Heather Waterman
6. Tiffany Westfall
7. Samantha Pixler
8. Janelle Zindroski
9. Would have been the new Miss Maumee Valley Kristen Haas…
10. Hanna Hauman
11. Rachel Maris
12. Danielle Bash
13. Would have been the new Miss All*American City Lauren Hogan…
14. Jamie Burns
15. Cassandra Fruchey

Unfortunately Loren and I were both working late, and thus, only caught the last three talents, onstage question and gown. From what we saw, outgoing Miss Northwestern Ohio Marisa Minor, Miss Ohio Melanie Murphy and Mark Schnitkey did a wonderful job emceeing. Marisa and Mark performed a beautiful number from Phantom of the Opera, complete with ballerinas. The finale included gorgeous choral music and an enormous flag!

Congrats to all!... Many more photos coming soon...