News : Karley Kenney named 2014 Benton County Fair Queen

Karley Kenney is the 2014 BC Fair Queen; 2013 Willow Huber crowned her Thursday.

Karley Kenney will represent Benton County at the Iowa State Fair Queen Contest.

2013 Princess Kristen Lowe crowns 2014 Princess Dorothy Zaugg.

In a coronation ceremony shortened just a bit because of the threat of rain, 2014 Vinton- Shellsburg graduate Karley Kenney was crowned the 2014 Benton County Fair Queen. Dorothy Zaugg was crowned Princess.

Below is the biographical information the Queen and Princess submitted to the Benton County Fair Board:

Karley Kenney

Karley joined Clover Buds in 3rd grade and then officially joined her 4-H club in 4th grade where she showed her horse "Trigger" and has been showing horses ever since. From there she has enjoyed, raised, and shown two other horses, "Kanudo" and "Dewy," at local and state levels. Through this opportunity she has met many people who have shared their knowledge of horses which has strengthened her equine desire even more and beyond anything she could ever imagine possible. It has always been her dream to participate in a Cowgirl Queen Contest. So as a sophomore she participated in a Cowgirl Queen Contest at a local horse show where she was crowned Junior Queen and had the amazing opportunity to represent that saddle club and Benton County at the Iowa State Fair Cowgirl Queen Contest.

Karley belongs to two 4-H Clubs. She has held the offices of Secretary or Vice President for six years in the Jackson Better Farmers 4-H Club. When she was a freshman her passion for horses inspired her to join a second 4-H club The Benton Horse Interest Program. This is where her interest in horses really took flight. She began studying the Quiz Bowl and Hippology contests and later competed at the Iowa Youth Horse Jamboree in Ames. In 2010 the Quiz Bowl team took first place a t Jamboree and moved on to compete at the National Level in Denver, Colorado at the Western National 4-H Round -up. She met a lot of people from around the United States that shared the same love for horses as she does.

In 2013 she participated in the public speaking event at jamboree. She gave a speech on the importance of melanoma awareness for both humans and equine. This was a topic that was very personal to Karley because not only had the disease impacted her horse but when she was sixteen years old she had been diagnosed with melanoma and she wanted to educate people about the risks. She received first place and advanced to the National level to participate at the Western National 4-H Round-Up in Colorado.

Through 4-H she has received the Horse and Pony award twice and even applied and interviewed for the state Horse and Pony award. She has served as members of the Benton County 4-H Council for 3 years.

She was a member of the Vinton-Shellsburg FFA Chapter all four years of High School; she served as reporter her junior year and Secretary her senior year. She earned her Iowa FFA Degree along with many leadership and career development awards. These awards have helped her gain many live skills as well as increase her passion for agriculture.

The fall of her senior year was most memorable as she was crowned Vinton-Shellsburg Homecoming Queen and the girls cross country team that she participated in earned a spot at the state meet. Karley lettered all four years on the Varsity Cross Country team. She received Most Valuable Newcomer as a freshman, Most Consistent Athlete as a senior. She also experienced the amazing opportunity to run at the State Cross Country meet. In track she received varsity letters all four years. She received two academic achievement awards from the Iowa High School Girls Athletic Girls Union through track and cross country. In High School she received a Varsity letter 3 years as a wrestling manager, and lettered one year in choir. She also was a member of the National Honor Society for two years.

Dorothy is the daughter of Gary and Shelly Zaugg of rural Watkins. She has a younger brother, Nicholas and a younger sister, Grace. Dorothy is 17 years old and will be a senior at Xavier High School in the fall.

Dorothy is involved in many school activities including volleyball, soccer, Health Occupation Student Association (HOSA), and Business Professionals of America (BPA). Dorothy represented her school at the state and national level for BPA. She is also a member of the National Honor Society.

Outside of school, Dorothy is involved in 4-H and is a member of the Florence Hawkeyes 4-H club. Dorothy feels that helping others in the community is important and service is very important to her. She has given back to her community by giving her time to Baskets of Hope, Habitat for Humanity, Gems of Hope and raking leaves for the elderly. Dorothy enjoys being a hospitality minister at church and helping with children’s masses on a regular basis. She also enjoys making special holiday cards for local nursing homes with her 4-H club.

Dorothy has enjoyed going on service trips the past few years with other 4-H members in Benton County. She spent a weekend in Omaha last year and Des Moines this year learning about service programs and helping others.

Throughout her experiences in 4-H, Dorothy has had a woodworking project, food and nutrition project, visual arts project, working exhibit and Share The Fun routine selected for the Iowa State Fair. She also received several awards in 4-H including, Outstanding Junior, Outstanding Intermediate and a Visual Art Award.

Dorothy will obtain a certified nursing assistant degree (CNA) during the upcoming school year and plans to obtain a registered nursing degree (RN) following high school. Her passion is to work with people and help those in need.