A young woman from Walkersville on March 8 won a local beauty pageant, and will compete in Miss Maryland 2008 in Hagerstown in June. If Brittany McNeill, 19, wins there, she will compete for the prestigious crown of Miss America.
McNeill, a 2005 graduate of Walkersville High School, currently attends Hood College, where she is majoring in political science.
She’s spending ‘‘hours on end” outside of her studies practicing for one particular aspect of the Miss Maryland 2008 competition, which will be held June 15-22. The actual competition will be held on June 21, in a week otherwise filled with promotional events.
‘‘The most stressful thing for me is talent,” McNeill said. ‘‘I’m a singer, but I’ve also decided to play the guitar for Miss Maryland.”
McNeill, who has been playing since she was 13 years old, took a few months of guitar lessons years ago.
‘‘I pretty much taught myself,” she said last week, adding that she hopes to impress her judges with both her music and voice.
She would not disclose which songs she is practicing, because, she said, she wants judges to be surprised.
Earlier this month, McNeill won the title of Miss Anne Arundel County at a Millersville pageant, beating a field of 18 contestants. A travelling band of supporters — including more than 10 of her Hood friends — cheered her on. So did her parents, Julie and Barry McNeill, of Walkersville, and her grandmothers, Ruth Peyton and Linda Pfeiffer.
‘‘I had a lot of people there,” she said.
McNeill began entering pageants just two years ago, when she was convinced by a friend who encouraged her.
‘‘I guess I just got bit by the bug,” she said. McNeill finished among the top 10 in the Miss Maryland 2007 pageant competition. She also runs a charity to support American troops abroad called Bears and Beauties. The charity, which she started a year ago, takes up a lot of her time. McNeill said she has distributed 600 stuffed animals to troops stationed around the world, including the Water Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. She and her colleagues on the beauty pageant circuit also send autographed head shots to troops abroad who have registered online to receive care packages.
Therapy horse-ridingprogram looks for sponsors
The Frederick County 4H Therapeutic Riding Program at Silverado Stables, near Thurmont, launched a new initiative called ‘‘Sponsor a Rider” last month, according to a press release from the program.
The nonprofit therapeutic riding program treats rehabilitates disabled individuals at no charge during seven-week terms in the spring and fall.
‘‘Sponsor A Rider” allows an organization or individual to sponsor a rider for either a half-year, for $500, or a full year, for $1,000.
Donors will be able to personally track the progress of their sponsored riders.
To sponsor a rider, contact Debbie Endlich, president, at 301-898-3587.
For more information, visit fc4htrp.org.
Sabillasville scouts want to recycle community’s waste
Cub Scout Pack 218 and Boy Scout Troop 18 of Sabillasville want people in the area to bring recyclable newspapers and cans to a depository at the Blue Ridge Mountain Fire and Rescue Squad, on Monterey Lane in Blue Ridge Summit, Pa.
The scouts are also preparing for a day spent picking up litter along roads this spring in recognition of Earth Day.
For more information, please contact Chad Atkinson, committee chairman, at 717-794-5511.
Do you have an item for North County Notes? Contact reporter Jeremy Hauck, 301-846-2127, e-mail jhauck@gazette.net or fax news to 301-846-2124.
