Warsaw Community High School students will compete Sunday for the title of “Mr. and Ms. Warsaw.” A talent competition will be at the WCHS Performing Arts Center at 2 p.m. Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy members and WCHS juniors Vanessa Malagon and Ana Batres came up with the idea for the competition. They will graduate in May from KYLA. One of their requirements to graduate KYLA is to complete a community-based project. KYLA’s mission is to develop informed and innovative leaders who will serve the community. “We wanted to do something big to showcase the talent at WCHS,” Malagon said during at interview Wednesday at the Times-Union. The 16 contestants, include eight boys and eight girls, who are sophomores through seniors at WCHS. Female contestants are Camille Beck, Meghan Boston, Hailey Johnson, Hannah Kline, Amanda Pilz, Autumn Scott, Joanna Taylor and Cindi Trier. Male contestants are Michael Blair, Landen DeGraff, Jake Fayed, Noah Fayed, Matt Grothouse, Tyler Houvener, Dean Katris and Josh Norman. They will compete in casual wear, talent, formal wear and a questions-and-answer portion. Talents will include singing, playing the piano, dancing and acting. Judges are Tony Ciriello, KYLA moderator; Ronna Kawsky, Warsaw Area Career Center director; Troy Akers, WCHS principal; and Pamela Rozzel, WCHS counselor. Admission is $3 per person and proceeds will be donated to the contestants. Malagon said she and Batres began planning the competition the beginning of January by creating a Facebook page, Mr. and Ms. Warsaw, and posting a sign- up sheet for interested participants at WCHS. They also worked with local businesses who provided financial donations, gift certificates and flowers for the winners. Batres thanked the local businesses for their participation. The Mr. and Miss. winners will receive crowns, a flower bouquet donated by Creative Floral Designs and $75 each. The money was donated by Reinholt’s Town Square Furniture and Owens & Company. There also will be LaTroje gift certificates that will be awarded to the second-place male and female contestants. Allegra Printing provided printing services for the flyers that have been displayed at the high school. The business also printed the tickets and programs.
