Every year, young women in Lancaster County have an opportunity to participate in the Miss Lancaster County Scholarship Pageant. On Feb. 3, six titleholders were crowned during the contest at Ephrata High School, qualifying them to advance to the Miss Pennsylvania and Miss Pennsylvania's Teen Scholarship competitions in June. This year's winning contestants include Noelle Schneider of Quarryville, Julianna Billings of Peach Bottom, AmandaGrace Krier of Levittown, Kathryn Davis of Willow Street, Whitney Ridler of Manchester, and Maggie Roe of Lancaster.

During the scholarship pageant, each contestant gave a unique performance and highlighted a community service project near to her heart. Davis, a senior at Lampeter-Strasburg High School who earned the title of Miss Lancaster County's Teen, performed a contemporary dance and shared information about her service project, PhlebotomyFam. Davis created PhlebotomyFam as a way to educate her classmates and members of the public on the importance of donating blood and what the process entails. Through the Instagram page @phebotomyfam, Davis frequently posts statistics from the American Red Cross, promotes local blood drives and encourages community members to get involved.

Davis said she was inspired to create PhlebotomyFam after watching her mother frequently donate blood throughout Davis' childhood. Davis said she also chose this particular project due to an experience she had in 2021; while Davis and 31 other freshmen traveled home from a youth group retreat, their bus driver experienced a severe stroke. The driver lost control of the bus, crashing into the woods along the road. Davis and many other passengers received minor injuries, but many of their classmates were hospitalized for several months. "Many girls survived because of blood transfusions, and those blood transfusions come from donors," Davis added. "I realized the true impact of blood donation, and I saw it firsthand. As soon as I was able to, I started donating blood with my mom and I took notice of how fun blood donation can be; we would go get lunch or get our nails done and then donate blood."

Schneider, who received the title of Miss Lancaster County, performed a harp arrangement that combined Handel's "Passacaglia" and Destiny's Child's "Survivor" in a mashup of the classical and R&B genres. Schneider presented her service project, MAOSmiles: Delivering Hope to Hospitalized Children. Through Schneider's initiative, gift bags containing greeting cards, craft kits, toys and books are delivered to children undergoing hospital treatment. Each bag also includes a QR code to a YouTube channel of Miss America titleholders reading their favorite children's books.

Krier, Ridler and Roe were awarded the titles of Miss Heart of Lancaster, Miss Red Rose City's Teen and Miss Heart of Lancaster's Teen, respectively.

The scholarship contest is coordinated by the Miss Lancaster County Scholarship Organization. The program seeks to empower young women across the nation by providing them with a platform to share their input on critical topics and hone various leadership skills as they compete for scholarship awards.

For more information, visit http://www.misslancasterco.org.