Sept. 11, 2010, the Blossomtime Festival hosted its first Miss Southwest Michigan and Miss Southwest Michigan Outstanding Teen Pageant.

Young women between the ages of 17 and 24 competed for the title of Miss while younger contestants vied for the Outstanding Teen title.

The week preceding the pageant seemed to be progressing like clockwork when late Friday night, Executive Directors Anna Abdelnour and Sabrina LaSota received news that one of their candidates for Miss Southwest was considering not competing the next day.

It seemed she had not only suffered injuries earlier that week in a car accident, but was also hit by a car while riding her bike the day before.

Her talent being musical theater dance, she felt her chances of performing to her best abilities were impaired and perhaps should wait for another pageant in hopes of qualifying to compete for the Miss Michigan title.

The option was hers, of course, and through her commitment and focus on achieving her goals, she chose to in fact compete and give it her best shot.
Her efforts were rewarded as she earned the crown.

The young woman was Elizabeth Ann Wertenberger, 21, from Dundee.
Miss Outstanding Teen was also named that day.

Roxie Elliott of Buchanan took home those honors. Both women qualified to compete for state titles in Muskegon this past weekend.

Roxie, a 14-year-old Buchanan girl starting her high school sophomore year in the fall, competed in Lifestyle and Fitness, Evening Gown and On-Stage Question, wowing the audience with her vocal rendition of “Don’t Rain on My Parade.”
Her combined talents and poise took her to the Top 10 finalists amidst some pretty stiff competition.

Elizabeth won both her talent and swimsuit competitions at prelims during the week preceding the pageant, made Top 5 and was ultimately crowned Miss Michigan 2011.

The new Miss Michigan, Elizabeth Wertenberger, said she hopes her struggles with a chronic illness, and how she overcame them to represent her state in the Miss America pageant, will be an inspiration to struggling children.

At age 13, Wertenberger was diagnosed with juvenile rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disorder where the body attacks the joints and sometimes other organs.

She said for a time she was taking 13 pills a day to get her condition under control, and she later had to undergo chemotherapy, which damaged her kidneys.

“The doctor said, ‘Elizabeth, I don’t mean to scare you, but there’s no way you should be walking right now,’ ” Wertenberger said. “They told me I’d never be in remission.  I’m in complete remission.”

Now, she said she hopes to use the Miss America organization’s partnership with Children’s Miracle Network to give other ill children hope.

“When the doctors didn’t have hope for me, I still had hope,” she said.

Wertenberger credits her passion for dance for helping to save her mobility.

It was a passion she decided to share with the elderly when she started volunteering as a teenager.

“I had this rare connection with the elderly that I didn’t have with my peers,” she said.

That led to her platform’s focus on youth volunteering with the elderly.

“We have a lot to learn from one another,” she said. “I think we need to take advantage of (lessons from the elderly) while we have them here.”

She also plans to speak out about cyber-bullying because of her experience in recent years.

A sports gossip Web site posted rumors about her love life after she started dating University of Michigan quarterback Tate Forcier.

“I think it’s important that we speak out against it and we use the Internet for positive things,” she said. “I think so many people deal with that on a day-to-day basis.  It’s sad.  It’s absolutely sad.”

She competed as Miss Southwest this year and as Miss Monroe County in 2008, when she finished as second runner-up to Miss Michigan.

She then took a year off to focus on school and work, but realized how much the Miss Michigan title meant to her.

“I was able to realize how important this organization was to my life. I realized this chronic illness didn’t just happen to me, that it wasn’t just a fluke,” she said. “I had a message to share.”

She recently graduated from Kendall College of Art and Design with a degree in interior design and a concentration in graphics.

Her goal is to someday own a design company that integrates graphics and interior designs to help companies strengthen their brands.

Wertenberger said part of her personal brand is that she doesn’t fit the pageant “mold.”

“They don’t define who I am,” she said. “I’m not trying to fit in.  I’d rather be myself and stand out.”

The $10,000 scholarship she was awarded with her title will certainly help her reach that goal.

Currently, the Miss Southwest Michigan Scholarship Pageant is the only local program recognized by the Miss Michigan organization and is accepting application for this year’s competition. Sept. 10, 2011, they will be hosting a pageant for Misses ages 17-24; Teens ages 13-17; and a new addition to the family, Little Miss ages 7-10.

For more information, contact the Blossomtime office at (269) 982-8016 or e-mail
office@blossomtimefestival.org.