News Release

AKRON — Five girls are competing for the title of Miss Akron 4th of July this year.

Miss Akron 2021 Kayleena Agnew will crown her successor after the pageant tonight, Friday, July 1, at the Akron Community Center. The winner of the Akron Las Donas’ Penny-a-Vote Cute Baby Contest will also be announced and Miss Sparkler and Mr. Firecracker competitions will also be held.

Events start at 6:15 p.m.

Miss Akron contestants this year in alphabetical order are: Kinsey Atkins; Chesnee Miller; Avery Prater; Kaydence Shepherd; and Shaylin Wilcox.

Below is more information about each contestant:

Kinsey Atkins

Kinsey Atkins is the 17-year-old daughter of Kevin and Krista Atkins.

She will be a senior at Triton Junior-Senior High School this fall. She is a member of the National Honor Society and a graduate of the Kosciusko Youth Leadership Academy and Hoosier Girls State put on by the American Legion Auxiliary.

She has attended sports leadership conferences and is a member of the senior leader squad at her school. Atkins has participated in volleyball, basketball and track while being at Triton. She has played defensive specialist (libero) for the volleyball team and a point guard or shooting guard for the basketball team and has run sprints for the track team.

Atkins has been a counselor for the youth basketball camp at Triton. Being active in athletics, she has won multiple school and HNAC conference awards.  Most recently, she was All Conference Honorable Mention for basketball and Academic All Conference for basketball and track. This past year she won the defensive player of the year award for volleyball and the coaches’ award for her basketball team.

When not working out with her high school teams, Atkins plays travel basketball for Optimum Performance Sports. She travels on the weekends to play against some of the best teams in the Midwest.

When she has some free time, she loves spending time with her friends and family. After she graduates from high school in 2023, Atkins is planning to attend college to study biomedical science. She hopes to one day work in a lab.

Atkins is sponsored by Scott Hull Trucking.

Chesnee Miller

Chesnee Miller is the 16-year-old daughter of Blake and Kim Miller.

She has an older brother Chase and a younger sister Chaney. Miller will be a junior this fall at Tippecanoe Valley High School.

She is also an active member of Fulton County 4-H, through which she shows pigs and does various projects. Miller currently is a member of the National Honor Society and participated in the Fulton County Youth Leadership Academy and PEER Facilitators. She also tutors other students and participates in cross-country, basketball and track and field.

In her spare time, Miller works at the Igloo Ice Cream Shop in Silver Lake, with her favorite flavor being peanut butter cup. She is also an honor roll student.

For the past 11 years, she has also been a student at the Terri Eckert School of Dance in North Manchester. She is the new school record holder for the 5K in girls’ cross-country and also for the 800 meter in track, which hasn’t been broken since 1991.

Her future plans include graduating high school with honors and attending college for a sports medicine-related field. She really enjoys going to the beach and spending time with her family and friends.

Miller is sponsored by Miller Moving Service and White Oaks Bison Farm.

Avery Prater

Avery Prater is the 16-year-old daughter of Kiara and Marco Malagon.

She was born and raised in Warsaw and is the oldest of five children. She will be a junior this year at Tippecanoe Valley High School.

Prater is an active member of Touch of Life Church in Warsaw. Her faith is very important to her. Her favorite Bible verse is 1 Peter 4:8, which states “Above all, love each other deeply because love covers a multitude of sin.”

She attends Camp Destiny with her church family ever summer.

Soccer is Prater’s favorite sport. She started playing when she was younger and has continued to throughout high school. Last year, Valley began their first girls’ team, and she was a part of it.

She also has done cheer since she was younger, but hasn’t since seventh grade. Prater plans to do cheer again for 2022-23. She also decided to give softball a shot last year with no previous experience, and it ended up becoming a passion of hers.

Prater enjoys painting, spending time with her family, traveling, trying new things, laughing and shopping. After she graduates, she plans to either become a real estate agent right out of high school or attend the University of Saint Francis to pursue the career of being a pediatric oncology nurse.

Prater is sponsored by Bobcat of Warsaw and TVHS cheerleading.

Kaydence Shepherd

Kaydence Shepherd is the 18-year-old daughter of Josh and Stephanie Shepherd.

She has one older sister, Makenna Bradley, who is the former Miss Akron for 2018. Shepherd was the second runner-up for Miss
Akron 2021.

She is a 2022 Tippecanoe Valley High School graduate. Shepherd is a member of Warsaw Community Church and has volunteered as a counselor at Camp Mollenhour.

Shepherd has participated in the drama club and is the director of the Tippecanoe Valley Middle School drama club. She is a four-year member of The Valley Singers and played varsity tennis.

Her one true passion was being the co-captain of the TVHS varsity cheer squad. Shepherd has been a cheerleader for 10 years, including in peewee and competitive cheer. She enjoys being a kind positive leader and helping others enjoy the sport of cheer as much as she does.

She has received the most spirited award five times, been super stunter and won jump-offs with her high toe touches and her herkies, but the most important award she has won is the peacekeeper/kindness award three years in a row.

Shepherd is also excelling academically. She is an honor roll student and has received the scholar athlete award for keeping her GPA high while participating in sports.

Her future plans include heading to Muncie this fall to be a freshman at Ball State University. She has decided to major in music education.

Shepherd is sponsored by Silver Lake Subway.

Shaylin Wilcox

Shaylin Wilcox is the 17-year-old daughter of Michael and Amanda Wilcox.

She has a younger brother,  Jason, and three dogs. Wilcox will be a senior at Tippecanoe Valley High School this fall.

She volunteers at the Fulton County Animal Adoption and Education Center and Kosciusko County Head Start and is a member of the National Honor Society. She’s participated in volleyball, soccer and track, specializing in the 400, 4×400 and pole vault.

Wilcox enjoys spending time with her friends and family, as well as her pups. She plans on going to college and becoming a pediatrician. Wilcox dreams of opening up her own hospital one day.

Wilcox is sponsored by Core Mechanical Services.