Finalists announced for the Genoa Days’ King and Queen Scholarship Contest

GENOA – Genoa has new royalty for the 61st anniversary of the Genoa Days’ King and Queen Scholarship Contest.

The very first queen competition was held during Genoa’s 125th anniversary celebration in June 1961. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the past two years’ scholarship contests were held privately and not open to the public, although they were livestreamed via Facebook Live.

During Wednesday’s morning announcements at Genoa-Kingston High School, representatives of the Genoa Days King and Queen Scholarship Contest committee announced the 10 2022 finalists.

This year’s king candidates are: Chase Engel, Colin Nesler, Josh Oates, Michael Sauber and Ben Younker.

This year’s queen candidates are: Mackenzie Engel, Sydney Krueger, Logan Neblock, Stephanie Sus and Natalie Wells.

“The Genoa Chamber and member businesses recognize the importance of education as well as the increasing costs that come with it,” said Genoa Chamber Executive Director Krissy Johnson. “The King and Queen Scholarship Contest is an opportunity to acknowledge our community youth and provide them with financial assistance to reach their future goals.”

The scholarship is open to all high school seniors who are residents of Genoa or Kingston and attending Genoa-Kingston High School, home school or parochial school, who would otherwise fall in the school district’s boundaries.

The king and queen will each receive a $1,000 cash scholarship and finalists will each receive a $100 cash scholarship. The scholarships are to be used for continuing education.

Johnson said that the Genoa Days’ King and Queen Scholarship Contest is not based on academics or GPA.

“In this scholarship competition we really recognize the importance of community service,” Johnson said. “The scholarship committee judges the applications blindly, using a rubric, and then the top 5 boys and the top 5 girls are selected to be a part of the scholarship competition.”

This year’s judges include Genoa Police Chief Robert Smith, former queen Hannah Hill, Josh Kubiak of Edward Jones Investments, Tricia Herrera of Ralfie’s BBQ, Nancy Pena of American Family Insurance Manny Peña Agency, Mark Carlson of State Farm Insurance, Jamie Sibigatroth of Heartland Bank and Chad Poegel of Crown Exteriors.

The final private judging will take place on the first evening of Genoa Days Wednesday, June 8, at Heartland Bank from 6 to 7:45 p.m. Judging will be completed on the main stage in downtown Genoa at 8 p.m.

Scores will be determined by adding the finalists’ application score, private interview score and public interview score.

The 2022 Genoa Day’s king and queen will be crowned to reign over Genoa Days for the rest of the week. Members of the court will ride on a float in the Genoa Days parade on Saturday, June 11.

For more information about Genoa Days festivities, email the Genoa-Kingston Fire Department at dnorris@genoa-kingstonfpd.org.