Niles High School senior Maureen Craig was crowned 2012 Miss Niles during the pageant Sunday evening at Niles High School.

Craig, the daughter of James and Roberta Craig, plans to attend Hope College and study for a career in health care as well as play basketball. This was her first pageant.
“I just feel so enthusiastic,” Craig said following her crowning. “Pageants aren’t something I normally do.”
Accompanying Craig as 2012 Mr. Niles will be Stuart Coulston.
First runner-up for Miss Niles was 17-year-old NHS junior Emily Archer. She is the daughter of Timothy and Amy Archer.
“I’m very excited,” Archer said. “I’ve been in pageants … it was a lot of fun.”
Crowned Miss Congeniality and second runner-up was 18-year-old Brandywine High School senior Danielle Pompey. She is the daughter of Tony and Pam Pompey.
When asked why she decided to participate in the pageant, she said simply: “Senior year. I wanted to go all out. I wanted to give my parents something to be proud of. It was very scary.”
Rounding out the rest of the top six contestants were 17-year-old NHS senior Abigail McKeel; 17-year-old NHS senior Carllie Ray; and 18-year-old Lake Michigan College freshman Emily Mokwa.
The 2011 Miss Niles, Samantha Low, and 2011 Mr. Niles, Torence Witherspoon, also bid

the program farewell Sunday.
Emcee for the pageant was “Wild” Bill Lewis of Y97.5 Judges were Allison Hayes, Lowell Johannsen and Janet Mankowski; pages were Katie Bruckner, Dacey Divane and Chloe Hargraves; and the runner was Chelsea Powers. The group Expressions — Chelsea Hamm, Danielle Villa and Abby Rzepka — sung the national anthem and another number.