Plans underway for 2009 Whitley County's Junior Miss, event slated for October 11 at CCHS
(Talk of the Town photo by Jennifer Zartman Romano) Emily Berning, shown below with her parents, was selected at Whitley County's 2008 Junior Miss, below. Plans for the 2009 event are now underway.
By Pamela Thompson 
Contestant recruitment for the 44th annual Whitley County's Junior Miss program has begun. The event will be held on October 11 at 7 p.m. at Columbia City High School and recruitment efforts have begun to seek contestants for this year's event.
Informational meetings about the Junior Miss program are scheduled for Wednesday, May 21, 7 p.m. at the Churubusco Public Library, Thursday, May 29, at the South Whitley Public Library and Tuesday, June 3 at the Peabody Public Library, Columbia City.
Each meeting will be one hour in length with Anne Rentschler and Pamela Thompson, co-coordinators of the Whitley County Junior Miss (WCJM) program providing information. Potential contestants from the communities should attend an informational session, which fits their schedule. If a potential contestant has a conflict with the scheduled informational meetings she should call 244-7467. Orientation meetings for the local program will be scheduled during the last week of July.
Whitley County Junior Miss, a franchisee holder with Indiana's Junior Miss and America's Junior Miss program, welcomes high school senior girls from the county's three high schools as well as home schooled high school senior girls to participate. Senior girls who attend a Whitley County high school, but are residents of a township outside of Whitley County may also enter the competition.
Potential contestants are encouraged to register on line by typing in either
America's Junior Miss or "http://ajm.org/" in "search." On the Junior Miss web site click on "Join us." The contestant will be asked to login in and should use her
personal email address. Click on "forgot password" and a password (from
America's Junior Miss) will be received by the contestant with in a day or two. The contestant is then asked to complete the "Contestant Application" and then click on "Submit Application." The staff of America's Junior Miss will notify the local co-coordinator, Anne Rentschler, of the interest for participation in the local Junior Miss program.
The Board of Directors of WCJM awards cash scholarships to category winners, the second and first runners-ups and Whitley County’s Junior Miss.
Prizes totaling $2,600 were awarded to the winners in the Oct. 6, 2007, program. Emily Berning, a senior at Columbia City High School, was named the winner of Whitley County Junior Miss and received a $700 cash scholarship. Berning will attend Hillsdale College in Michigan in the fall.