Senior Ariane Raymond was crowned Harvest Festival Princess at Milton’s Annual Princess Pageant. The pageant took place at St. Andrews Church on Sept. 14.

Nine Milton High School seniors competed for the title. The top five finishers were Allison Embeck, Tori Brink, Ariane Raymond, Haley Seebold and Samantha Snyder. The Runner-up was Samantha Snyder.

Ariane was sponsored by the Junior Woman’s Club of Milton. Ariane said she was never in a pageant before and described it as “a cool experience being able to bond with the other senior girls.”

Ariane said she enjoyed the public speaking part of the pageant. She added she loves public speaking and saw this as good practice.

Ariane said she did not realize how much preparation the pageant would take. She added the participants had practice every week, which almost always included a run-through of the whole pageant. She said she needed to have her speech memorized by around the third practice.

Ariane said if she could go back and do it all over again, she would. “I had a really good time with the girls, and it was fun to be involved so much within the community,” Ariane added.

As Harvest Festival Princess, Ariane said her duties included attending all of the Harvest Festival festivities and riding in the parade. She added that she will have the honor of crowning next year’s Harvest Festival Princess during next year’s festivities.

According to Ariane, she plans to go to college for Chemistry with a pre-med track to be an oral surgeon. Georgetown University is her top pick, she added. In high school, she said she is involved in Key Club, FBLA, Student Government, Outdoor Club, National Honor Society and Spanish Honor Society. She added she also participates in cross country.

Ariane said her biggest inspiration growing up was her mom’s friend Ms. Jane Moser- Gonzalez. She explained how Ms. Moser-Gonzalez raised her to be strong and to always say what is on her mind. “She’s one of the reasons that I feel so confident about what I say,” Ariane added.

“Other than my career, I want to be remembered as a part of history. I don’t want to be forgotten,” said Ariane of her life goals.

Junior Woman’s Club President and Art Teacher Ms. Cynthia Krebs mentored Ariane in her pageant endeavors. Ms. Krebs said Ariane received $150 to use for any expenses in the pageant. Ms. Krebs described watching Ariane as “pretty awesome.”

“I knew she had a good chance of winning…You could tell she came right from the heart,” Ms. Krebs added.