Five Hills royalty for 2019 crowned
By BRITTANY FHOLER
Cove Leader-Press
The 2018 Five Hills royalty performed their opening dance number with yellow umbrellas before passing on their crowns to their successors during the “Singing in the Reign” themed Five Hills Scholarship pageant held Saturday.
The day kicked off with an afternoon pageant for the younger categories of Baby Miss and Mister up through Junior Miss and Mister, while the evening pageant awarded crowns to the categories of Preteen Miss up to Senior Ms. and the announcement of the new Five Hills Ambassador selected from the 2018 royalty.
There were 130 contestants total, each scored on poise, personality and confidence as they crossed the stage under white umbrellas and twinkling lights meant to represent rain drops.
Contestants in the Preteen Miss category and older shared their selected platform of service that they would devote time and money to should they win. Contestants also fielded one question each that they drew from a bowl. Questions ranged from family related and summer time activities to tougher ones about freedom of the press and censorship.
Chosen platforms included anti-bullying, suicide prevention, helping the homeless, kidney cancer, breast cancer, mitochondrial disease, PTSD, animal welfare and helping the elderly and senior citizens.
Following the crowning ceremony at the end of the night, the 2019 royalty cut into a white cake featuring a tiara made by H-E-B.
More than $80,000 in prizes and scholarships were awarded Saturday night to the contestants and winners. Contestants each received a customized cast iron Five Hills Scholarship Pageant medal and a gift bag valued at more than $250 to include one month of gymnastics, dance, or cheer lessons, a month of martial arts lessons, gift certificates to local shops, professional sporting events, zoo, museums and restaurants. They also received a canvas bag with the Five Hills logo as a keepsake.
First through fourth runners up in each category also received a marble base trophy on a crystal tower topped with a king or queen.
The newly crowned royalty ages eight and under received a $100 educational savings bond courtesy of W. B Development, custom-made rhinestone crowns for the girls and velvet and gold trimmed crowns, scepters and kings’ robes for the boys sponsored by Bill French Jewelers, custom-made double-satin embroidered Five Hills Scholarship Pageant banner trimmed in rhinestones, a 3-foot tall queen/king trophy, a bouquet of live flowers for queens and boutonnieres for kings courtesy of The Daisy, a protective crown box, a pageant shirt and a customized garment bag courtesy of Stackin’ Tees, plus an official Photo Shoot courtesy of CenTex Photo.
For the newly crowned royalty in the preteen Miss, Young Miss, Teen Miss, Miss and Ambassador category, they received a $500 scholarship paid directly to queen’s college/university courtesy of donors such as Crawford Bowers Funeral Home, Extraco Banks, Rachel and Robert Sizemore, and Mary Beth Harrell, plus either a 5-inch or 8-inch custom Five Hills Scholarship Pageant rhinestone crown courtesy of Bill French Jewelers, a crown box, a custom-made double-satin embroidered Five Hills Scholarship Pageant banner trimmed in rhinestones, long-stemmed roses bouquet courtesy of The Daisy, a custom-made Five Hills Scholarship Pageant crystal engraved platter courtesy of Awards Gallery, a customized pageant shirt and garment bag courtesy of Stackin’ Tees, plus an official photo shoot courtesy of CenTex Photo and a gift bag of jewelry/cosmetics/salon gift cards/restaurant certificates/home décor.
The Senior Ms. Five Hills winner received the same prizes, and will also receive entry fee and coaching for the Ms. Texas Senior America pageant.
Judges for Saturday’s pageant were Mrs. Texas America Chesney Berzins, Miss Kingsland AquaBoom Festival Kailee Hair and Miss McGregor Uridian Reyes. Mrs. Bell County Lauren Brown served as the emcee.
The 2019 Five Hills royalty include:
Baby Mister Five Hills Jehzriel Troy-De Mayo Trinidad
Baby Miss Five Hills Berkley Valois
Tiny Miss Five Hills Isabella Cross
Tiny Mister Five Hills Keith Parnell, Jr.
Miniature Miss Autumn Munoz
Miniature Mister Joel Beckenstedt
Little Miss Kennedy Parnell
Little Mister Landon Mariano
Junior Miss Hayley Sawyer, Platform: Helping the Homeless
Junior Mister Jackson Gibbs, Platform: Student Food Backpack Program
Preteen Miss Five Hills Kaydence Roberts, Platform: Kindness to Animals
Young Miss Five Hills Angelica Torres, Platform: American Heart Association
Teen Miss Five Hills Mary Rohrick, Platform: Texas Humane Heroes
Miss Five Hills Emerald Bentley, Platform: Empowering Mothers
Ms. Five Hills Lorianne Luciano, Platform: Pregnancy and Infant Loss Awareness
Senior Ms. Five Hills Donna Higgins, Platform: My Brother’s House Food Pantry
Five Hills Junior Ambassador Naomi Williams, Platform: Love for the Elderly
Five Hills Ambassador: Briana Liles, Platform: Alopecia Awareness.
Liles, who served as Preteen Miss Five Hills in 2018, logged 800 hours of service and was named the 2018 National Lemonade Day Entrepreneur of the Year as well as one of the 2018 Central Texas Incredible Kids.
Together, the 2018 royalty logged thousands of hours and raised and donated $15,200 to programs benefitting the City of Copperas Cove, according to Wendy Sledd, the volunteer pageant director.
“Every year, I wonder how we’re going to top ourselves and what our royalty accomplished this last year was just unbelievable,” Sledd said.
Sledd said that the relationships developed through the pageant made up for the challenges of all the time that goes into the countless appearances. Every weekend except for the one between Christmas and New Year’s is devoted to pageant appearances, Sledd said.
“It’s amazing and rewarding to see them grow and develop and see the great things we can do for the community,” Sledd added.
This year saw the return of some familiar faces as well, with Kaydence Roberts, who was the Junior Ambassador in 2017, and with the crowning of Angelica Torres, who has competed previously.
“I think one of the most awesome things is when I see a contestant that has been a runnerup year after year and continues to come back and capture the crown,” Sledd said of Torres. “Because you can’t win if you don’t enter.”