Montpelier’s Jessy Duchene, 2013-14 Locomotive Homecoming Queen is set to represent the Village of Montpelier in the state finals of the “America’s Homecoming Queen” scholarship contest, with the event scheduled to take place on April 13, 2014 at the Dayton Marriott in Dayton, Ohio.
America’s Homecoming Queen began in 1981 and participation is by invitation only. According to the America’s Homecoming Queen website (www.americashomecomingqueen.com), “participants must be a high school homecoming queen in football or basketball, and must have never competed in the competition previously. This means that each year, there is a different group of girls competing for the state and national title. Each state winner will receive a trip to the national selection competition, which will be held in the Orpheum Theater, located in downtown Nashville Tennessee.”
Miss Duchene’s participation in the state competition began with the submission of an application to compete in the contest. The applications submitted from across the state of Ohio were subjected to preliminary judging. Jessy was selected as a state finalist, and she joins 37 other Ohio Homecoming Queens for the state competition. The state competition will consist of a personal interview with the panel of judges representing the fields of education, travel, and public relations along with a prom gown competition. Each state winner will represent their respective states at the national competition and will automatically receive a scholarship. The monetary value of the scholarship is to be determined by how the state representatives place in the final outcome of the national competition.
Jessy is the daughter of Bob and Tammy Duchene of Montpelier, and has three sisters: Kelly, Wendy and Christy.