Sisters, Brittany and Samantha Haag, are keeping promoting the Berks County Dairy Industry in the family for 2016-2017. They will be serving the Berks County dairy farmers as their Dairy Princess Royalty this coming year along with Chloe Shealer, who will serve as the Li’l Miss Dairy Princess.
Brittany and Samantha Haag will be the Berks County Dairy Princess and Alternate, respectively. They were crowned recently at the Berks County Dairy Princess Pageant held at the Mohrsville Church of the Brethren. They are the daughters of David and Mary Haag of Mohrsville. Both girls have been involved in the Berks County Dairy Princess Program since a young age. Both served as Li’l Miss Dairy Princesses as well as dairy ambassadors.
During the pageant, Brittany performed a skit involving her experiences with dance and how dairy products help her and her dance students perform their best. Samantha gave a speech on real milk versus the other beverage choices in the dairy case. She compared the nutritional values of real milk versus the soy, almond and rice “milk.”
They both had to answer an impromptu question: What do you see as the largest challenge in promoting the consumption of dairy products? Samantha talked about making sure that we are not putting down other dairy products when talking about others. We need to promote all products, whether they are one percent or whole. Brittany answered by talking about in today’s society, we need to educate the consumer about where dairy products come from before we are able to promote the nutritional value of dairy products.
Another contest taking place during the pageant was the Berks County Li’l Miss contest. This year there were six young ladies vying for the title: Heidi Eisenhower, the five year old daughter of Scott and Vicki Eisenhower; Malaina Rhoads, the four year old daughter of Darren and Sandy Rhoads; Presley Sattazahn, the five year old daughter of Kirk and Stephanie Sattazahn; Chloe Shealer, the six year old daughter of Paul and Pam Shealer; Allyson Templin, the five year old daughter of Christopher and Amy Templin; and Kyra Troutman, the five year old daughter of Luke and Lori Troutman.
Each girl had a book or song to share and entertain those in attendance. In the end, Chloe Shealer was crowned the 2016-17 Berks County Li’l Miss Dairy Princess.
Brittany is a recent graduate of Delaware Valley University where she graduated with a cum laude degree in Agricultural Business. While at Del Val, she was president of the Dairy Society, Del Val’s chapter of the National Agri-Marketing Association (NAMA) as well as the Del Val Dance Team. Brittany also did an internship with the Pennsylvania Farm Bureau.
Samantha is going to be graduating from Schuylkill Valley High School as well as the Berks County Vocational Technical School in June. Her plans are to attend Reading Area Community College to continue her horticulture training with a goal to one day continue the operation of her grandparent’s orchard in Strausstown.
As the judges deliberated on who they were going to crown, Kelsie Burkhart, the 2015-16 Berks County Dairy Princess and Kalina Rhoads, the 2015-16 Berks County Li’l Miss Dairy Princess gave their farewells. The Berks County Dairy Ambassadors were also recognized for all of their help in promoting this past year as well. The ambassadors were: Ayla Blatt, Courtney Blimline, Mikayla Davis, Brittany Haag, Samantha Haag, Kristin Johns, Megan Krick, Morgan Krick, Taylor Pool, Jenna Sattazahn, Morgan Stump and Lindsey Zimmerman.
Judges for the pageant were Amy Savage of Stevens and John Caroff President of the Montgomery County Farm Bureau. Emcee for the evening was Jennifer Grimes, former Berks County and Pennsylvania Dairy Princess.