Wende to reign over 2015 Celina Lake Festival

CELINA - Lima resident Veronica Wende on Monday was crowned Miss Lake Festival 2015.

Wende and fellow contestants Shelby Jolliff, Lauren Hone and Haley Steinke took the stage for the 60th annual Miss Lake Festival Scholarship Pageant in the Celina Education Complex Auditorium.

Wende, 23, is a graduate of Hillsdale College with a Bachelor of Arts degree. She is pursuing a career as a high school band director. She received a $4,000 scholarship as winner.

She is the daughter of James and Lesa Wende.

In the evening wear portion of the competition, worth 20 percent of her score, Wende modeled a blue, strapless gown with silver sequined diagonal stripes across the bodice. In the lifestyle and fitness category, worth 15 percent of her score, she wore a multicolored two-piece swimsuit.

Wende entertained the crowd with a jazzy rendition of Harold Arlen's "It's Only a Paper Moon" for the talent portion of the competition. This portion accounted for 35 percent of the contestants' total scores.

The contestants prior to the contest also participated in a private interview, which accounted for 25 percent of their scores. The onstage interview, during which the young ladies answered two questions about their interests, opinions and aspirations, was worth 5 percent.

During her reign in the coming year, Wende will work on her platform, "Give Life, Give Hope," for which she hopes to raise awareness of the importance of saving lives by being an organ and tissue donor. Wende was asked during her onstage interview how she felt about stem cell research.

She does not promote stem cell research through her platform but believes the choice should be up to the individual, she said. Most important is spreading the message of being an organ and tissue donor, she added.

Winning first runner-up and receiving a $2,000 scholarship was Jolliff. The Celina teen performed the vocal solo "Outside Looking In" to promote her platform, "Unfriending the Cyber Bully With a Strong Courageous Voice."

When asked for an appropriate punishment for a cyber bully, she said the bully should be banned from all social media in the future. She noted hiding behind a screen doesn't make the bully stronger, but makes him or her a coward.

She wore a dark purple, backless gown with sequin accents for her evening gown and a magenta, two-piece swimsuit for the lifestyle and fitness category.

Jolliff, 18, is the daughter of Robert and Cindy Jolliff. She also won the onstage interview award, which included a $200 scholarship.

Steinke, 19, Celina, received the people's choice award with a $200 scholarship and the commitment to excellence award with a $500 scholarship. For her talent, she performed a contemporary dance to the song "Undone" from the movie "Step Up Revolution."

She is the daughter of Kirk and Meredith Steinke.

Hone, 18, Celina, won the talent award with a $500 scholarship. For her talent, she performed an acrobatics and dance routine to a collage of songs about women's power.

The Barbara Wagner non-finalist award was given to Steinke and the onstage question award was given to Jolliff after the pageant at Romer's Catering in Celina.

Wright State University-Lake Campus teacher George Dunster and Miss Lake Festival 2014 Emily Werling hosted the event. Werling also gave special performances and crowned Wende. Also assisting with the program and giving performances were Miss Lake Festival Outstanding Teen 2014 MacKenzie Lange and 2014 Miss Lake Festival Princess Asjah Lim.

Wende will reign over the annual Celina Lake Festival, which begins Friday. She is eligible to compete in next year's Miss Ohio competition, which is part of the Miss America pageant.