CHANUTE Iola High School sophomore Elysia Kunkler is continuing a family tradition by entering Chanutes Mexican Fiesta Queen competition.
Kunklers inclusion was announced earlier this month by the Fiesta Days Committee. The winner will be crowned during the fall festival in September.
Kunkler, whose mother, Damaris, was a queen candidate 30 years ago, also has had several cousins vie for the crown.
Kunkler is active in and out of the classroom. She sports a 3.785 grade-point average (her favorite subject is chemistry) while playing trumpet in marching, pep and concert bands. She also is active in forensics.
Meanwhile, Kunkler has rewritten the Iola High School track and field record books already, having set a new school mark in the 100-meter high hurdles, while challenging the school long jump record.
She is a two-time National Junior Olympics qualifier while running for AAU and USATF squads in the summer. Her dream is to earn a scholarship to run track at the University of Oklahoma.
Additionally, Kunkler has assisted with several volunteer projects around town and is active with the Wesley United Methodist Church youth group, and will travel with other youth group members to work on a mission trip to Philadelphia later this year. She also is a youth leader for Vacation Bible School.
Kunklers family emigrated to Allen County from Aguascalientes, Mexico, in the 1920s.
I would like to carry on the family tradition and bring some Mexican pride back to the town of Iola, she said.
The first Mexican Fiesta in Chanute was organized in 1917 by Reyes Brisuela, Julio Verdin, Martin Ramirez and Theodore Ramirez.
The Fiesta began as a way for area families to get together and visit because so many had lived through the Mexican Revolution from Spain in 1910.
This years celebration runs Sept. 7 and 8.
