Written by Lenny Coyne

The German-American Steuben Parade Committee of NY is proud to announce the selection of the new Miss German-America & Her Court 2015! Samantha Hart, a resident of Bethel, CT, is the new Miss German-America for 2015! Miss Hart graduated from Fairfield University in 2014 with a bachelor’s degree in Integrated Marketing Communications and currently works for an advertising and communications firm in Connecticut. Samantha, who is fluent in German, will ride the German-American Steuben Parade’s “Queen’s Float” on Fifth Avenue on September 19, along with her court, which includes two princesses: Catherine Hatten formerly of Columbus, OH, now living in Manhattan, NY, and Rebecca Koehler, a resident of North Bergen, NJ. Miss Hatten graduated with a Bachelor’s Degree in German, and another in International Relations, from Ohio State University. She is a former Fulbright Scholar and currently works for the American Council on German as a Program Assistant. Miss Koehler is an aspiring photographer who has already won a major award for the National Youth Gathering in 2013 (1st place). All three young women speak German and are perfect representatives of the rich German-American heritage and culture of the New York tri-state area.

This year’s pageant took place in a crowning ceremony held at Reichenbach Hall in NYC on May 17. A packed house witnessed a pageant that included 3 finalists who competed for the title out of 5 highly qualified contestants. Miss German-America receives a $5,000 scholarship, while each of the two princesses will receive a $2,500 scholarship. Each contestant was interviewed by a panel of 6 judges. After the judges cast the initial vote, each contestant was introduced to the audience in a question and answer session after which each guest in attendance was given the opportunity to cast a vote for the Queen!

Besides crowning Miss German-America, a Junior General and 4 Junior Princesses were introduced: Christian Hubert is the new Junior General von Steuben, while his sister Summer Hubert, along with Kristina Petzold, Devan McCarthy and Alessia Glebke are the Parade’s Junior Princesses.

Over 100 guests were in attendance, including the Parade’s General Chairman – Robert Radske and the President of the German-American Committee of Greater NY – Michael Rabus.