Crowning is Thursday, June 27, at Benton County Fairgrounds

Emma Arnold

Emma Arnold, 16, daughter of David Arnold and Sara Yedlik, lives in Vinton, Iowa and is sophomore at the Vinton-Shellsburg High School.

Emma is involved in 4-H, FFA, and is a member of the senior high youth group at the Vinton Presbyterian church

She plays the alto saxophone in the band and will be traveling to New York City in June 2019 with the Vinton-Shellsburg music department. She will be attending the 4-H Animal Science Roundup in June 2019 at the Iowa State University campus and she will be attending the State FFA convention and its competing with the Vinton Shellsburg FFA Ag sales team.

Emma has received numerous FFA awards: The Greenhand degree, Chapter degree, and Proficiency award in beef production.

She has danced at the Cooling Dance Center for the past 12 years and has competed in National Dance Competitions.

She enjoys helping her grandfather with the Iowa Pyro Techniques Association (IPA) and the Pyro Techniques Guild International (PGI)

Emma has a passion for agriculture and enjoys sharing her passion with younger 4-H and FFA members.

Brianna Lundvall

My name is Brianna Lundvall. I am 18 years old. My parents are Tom and Dawn Lundvall. My older sister is Lexy and my younger sister is Sammie. When I was 3, mid-2004, we moved here from Illinois and I have grown up here ever since.

In elementary school, I went to Tilford Elementary, befor going to the Vinton-Shellsburg Middle Schook, and up until this May Vinton-Shellsburg High School. During my education, I have been a student at Joan Cooling’s Dance Center for a total of 15 years, a dance class demonstrator for eight years, and danced competitively for nine years.

I became a member of the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter my freshman year, and have received my Greenhand, Chapter, and Iowa degrees, and will be applying for my American degree soon. I have participated in several career development events, the most prominent of which is the Floriculture Skills CDE. I have been on the state team for the CDE for three years, all three of which we placed within the top three as a team, and I wond individually last year.

I have also been a member of the girls’ bowling team all four years, been on the state qualifying team twice, and was elected the girls’ varsity team captain my last year. During the fall of both my junior and senior years I was also on the varsity football cheer team and went to state competitions once.

Within the community, I have volunteered at the variety of events, and have taken part in the Party in the Park celebrations. I have gone to the Benton County Fair every year, even if I wasn’t showing anything. I have shown, cows, rabbits, horses, and pigs along with helping in the FFA barn during fair week. As of this May, I will have graduated from Vinton-Shellsburg and I plan on going to Kirkwood in the fall as a start to the engineering transfer program with Iowa State.

Shelby McDonald

I am Shelby Mc Donald and the daughter of Marge and Jay McDonald of Vinton. I have a brother who lives in Denver, CO, with his wife and two children. I attended Vinton-Shellsburg High School and graduated on May 26, 2019.

Participation in extra-curricular school and community activities have been a very important to me in becoming a well-rounded individual. My high school activities include volleyball, four years; trap shooting, four years; wrestling manager, three years; trap shooting manager, two years; club volleyball, two years; and soccer, one year.

I have been involved in the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter for four years and currently hold the office of chapter reporter for the second year and I also held the office of officer–at–large. I earned my Iowa Degree during my junior year and have received many awards and achievements certificates during my four years in FFA.

I attended the FFA WLC Conference in Washington, D.C., in July of 2018, which was an experience of a lifetime. I have been member of the Benton County Canton Upstreamers club for nine years. I currently hold the office of vice president and I have also held the positions of treasurer and historian multiple years. I am currently a Benton County Council Member. I have participated in many different static projects activities and the county fair including food and nutrition, photography, sewing, and needle art, visual arts, self determined, share-the–fun and woodworking.

I have also showed rabbits, sheep and my pony at the fair. I have wond many county and state project awards including an Cooling Dance Studio for 16 year and I am also a member of St. Mary’s Catholic Church and the American Legion Ladies Auxiliary in Shellsburg.

My future plans are to attend Hawkeye Community College to pursue a career in Ag Business. I will also be on the Red Tail Trapshooting Team while attending Hawkeye.

Olivia Sash

My name is Olivia Sash and I am a senior at Union High School located in La Porte City. My family includes my two sisters, Payton and Rylee, my parents, Kevin and Mary Jo, and my animals. After graduating in May of 2019, I plan on attending Iowa State University major in business with a minor in communication.

In school, I kept myself busy with the many activities that I am involved in such as, dance team (seven years), silver cord (seven years), color guard (four years), jazz band (three years), group and individual speech (four years), fall play (four years), spring musical (four years), Future Problem Solvers (one year), Mentors in Violence Prevention (two years), National Honor Society (two years), FFA (four years), and golf (two years). Out of school, I am an active member of the Bruce Boosters 4-H club and a member of the Benton County Council.

Through 4-H and FFA, I have shown boer goats at both the county and state level. I work hard with my animals to ensure that they not only look the best, but act well around others. I do this to make the fairs safer for people to enjoy, and lessen the worry about animals getting loose. As part of the Benton County Council, I help set up the fair, work the weigh-ins, and help provide information to all exhibitors and fairgoers.

When participating in any of my activities throughout the year, I always do the best I can and help those that are new to the organization and ensure that they are successful as well. As a part of the National Honor Society, it was my job to do more with the communities close to me. I help organize a school blood drive, a canned food drive where all of the National Honor Society would take the proceeds to the Cedar Valley Food Bank to give to those in need. I have also kept busy with work by being a lifeguard for the La Porte City Family Aquatic Center for two years. I am currently working for Hy-Vee in the Aisles Online department; a new job that I believe will lead me to greater opportunities in the future. One of the most memorable trips I have taken to help further my college decision, was last summer when I was one of the select 50 young women to attend the Young Women I Business camp at Iowa State University, During this week long camp, I learned about all the available majors in business, visited businesses in the Ames area and helped create a successful business plan for a nonprofit organization.

Kaylee Sorum

My name is Kaylee Sorum. I’m 17 years old and in 11th grade. My parents are Kandy Ryan, and Paul Sorum. My mother was born and raised in Shellsburg. My father was born and raised in Waukon. I have an older sister, Kourtney Boddicker, she is married to Chris Boddicker. I am a proud aunt to their daughter Makayla, who is 2, and their son Kolton, who is nine months old! I was born and raised in small town Vinton.

I have worked at Tootsies, which is a food and ice cream shop, since I was 14. I also enjoy babysitting my niece and nephew. I completed a High School Internship through Kirkwood last summer for the Vinton Veterinary Clinic. For hobbies, I enjoy horseback riding with my dad and friends on our ranch in Decorah, camping with my moms and dad’s families, gator riding, go kart riding, working with my cattle in Decorah and spending time with family.

I am currently involved in many activities, including the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter for the past three years, Polk 101 4-H for the past seven years and High School Golf, which I’m really enjoying. Throughout the years I have been involved in many activities, including Clover Buds for two years, AYSO Club Soccer for five years, and F.C. United Club Soccer for two years, and CRSA Club Soccer for two years, and High School Soccer for two years and Joan Cooling Dance Center for eleven years.

I received many awards through FFA. A few of them are, high fruit sales two years in a row for selling over $1,500 and $1,000 the past two years, the Outstanding Freshman Award, Green Hand Degree, Chapter Farmer Degree and the Iowa FFA Degree. I’m also a member of the Honor Roll. I also received my varsity letter through soccer

I am currently serving as the 2018-2019 Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter Co-Reporter. Last year as a sophomore, I was the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter Officer-At-Large. I enjoy being an officer for the FFA Chapter. I have learned many new leadership skills, and how to be more outgoing. Talking in front of people use to be one of my worst nightmares! I have learned to come out of my shell, get involved, and have fun doing whatever I’m doing. Why be scared? Nothing lasts forever, I have learned. I enjoy getting up and speaking in front of large groups now!

I am very involved in FFA, whether it be volunteering, competing or showing animals. I have been involved in two State Conventions for FFA, two National Conventions and District Convention. Two of my favorite FFA events that I have volunteered for the entire day have been the pancake breakfast to raise funds for the Benton County Veterans and the Farm Safety Day held at the fair grounds for kids of all ages to demonstrate and raise awareness of how important farm safety is. I am truly blessed and honored to be in such a good program, as well as 4-H. In my seven years in 4-H, I’ve showed animals every year at the Benton County Fair including, several calves and cow-calf pairs, and Radar, Annie and Bandit my three horses. I also showed my rabbits for numerous years. I also showed Radar and Annie at State Fair. This will also be my 3rd year to volunteer in the FFA Barn with the baby pigs, animals and activities. This is also my 3rd year to get auctioned off to raise money for FFA, by working in the Benton County Cattlemen’s stand during fair or the cattlemen’s banquet. I enjoy being out there, and meeting new people. Throughout these past three years of being more involved with agriculture, more than I have ever been, has been my greatest journey so far!

Next year, I will continue to be involved in FFA, 4-H and Golf. I will continue to love agriculture as much as I do now. I have visited Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar and I’ll be attending there for two years starting in the fall of 2020 and then transferring to Iowa State University where I will be pursuing a degree in Animal Science. I look forward to seeing what my future has in store for me! Last but not least, I’ve attended and/or been involved in the Benton County Fair every year since I’ve been a baby and every year, I cannot wait for the Benton County Fair to arrive.

Sam Ward

My name is Sam Ward. My parents are Jon and Diana Ward, and I have two sisters and four brothers. I live in Belle Plaine and attend Belle Plaine Jr. /Sr. High School. I graduated this year and plan to go to the University of Iowa in the fall and will be majoring in accounting.

While in high school, I was very active, I played volleyball all four years of high school along with volleyball, I played basketball all four years of high school and was a team captain my senior year. I received SICL honorable mention in basketball my junior and senior years. I have also been very active FFA member. I have competed in contests through FFA for the past four years. I served as a reporter for two years and then this past year served as president of my chapter. Through my experiences in FFA I have learned how to be a better and more effective communicator.

As a junior I was able to get involved with several different organizations that are specifically for juniors. One of which was Win with Wellness. In this group, we looked out for the students of the school. Our main goal was to encourage students to be involved and be healthy, we organized many events throughout the year to promote healthy living and good choices. The other organization that I was part of was the prom committee. I started that by picking up after prom my sophomore year.

As a junior, it was our responsibility to pick the theme and make the decorations and put everything together.

I am also a very dedicated 4-H’er. I have been in 4-H for the past nine years and before that I was a Cloverbud for three years. I love to take exhibits to fair, there wasn’t anything that I was the greatest at so I tried a little bit of everything. I did some woodworking projects, home improvement, the $15 challenge, and even baking. I also have been showing rabbits for the past five years. In doing many different projects, I have become a well-rounded individual thanks to 4-H. Even as being a very involved person in my extracurricular activities, I find time to volunteer.

I have volunteered over 160 hours. On top of all the activities that I am in and the ten I give back to my community, I am straight A student. I have been in National Honor Society for the last two years. After graduating college I hope to move back to Benton County and give back to my community.