Mikaela Bannon to represent Michigan in new national pageant

by Richard Lamb–Advance Editor

It is official. Mikaela Bannon of Rogers City will represent Michigan at a new national pageant this spring. The Miss Volunteer America pageant selected her to be the first Miss Michigan Volunteer with the coronation last Sunday at the Hentkowski Funeral Home for Bannon to accept her new title. 

Without a state pageant, her selection came by a vote of a state committee, after reviewing several applicants for the honor. 

MIKAELA BANNON joined by her friends (from left) Alayna Sorget, Madison Tulgestka, Linnea Hentkowski and Madysen Gohl. (Photos by Richard Lamb)

“It is monumental, not only for me, but for my hometown. This is the first time anything like this has happened in Rogers City,” Mikaela said. 

The coronation brought speakers forward to talk about Mikaela. Brandy Wolfgram, representing the Miss America Volunteer program, said Mikaela is a great contestant for the national pageant. 

“The most exciting part about this opportunity for Mikaela is just by her nature, without effort, she embodies all of the qualities that we are looking for in Miss Volunteer America and Miss Michigan Volunteer. She is a beautiful soul and she is everything that they are going to want to see. I am very excited for her,” Wolfgram said. 

Comments also came from others at the coronation including her junior high school language arts and history teacher, Cathy Gilmet. 

“Her shining, joyful exuberance for life was evident even when she was a young girl,” Gilmet said, adding that Mikaela is still shining today as a busy college student. 

Current Miss Nautical Coast, Madysen Gohl, praised Mikaela.

“Anyone who knows Mikaela knows that she lights up a room the moment that she walks in,” Gohl said. “Her high energy and big smile spread contagiously.” 

Three other former local pageant winners also spoke from the podium to congratulate Mikaela. 

Alayna Sorget, the last person to be crowned Miss Rogers City before the pageant changed its name, served two years as the queen in 2019 and 2020. She recalled how Mikaela helped instill confidence in her before Sorget’s first pageant. 

“She took me over to her house and practiced my walk. She told me I just needed to be myself. I think Mikaela is the most perfect person for this and I am so honored that I am able to talk about her,” Sorget said. 

Madison Tulgestka, who served as Miss Nautical Coast during the same time as Sorget was Miss Rogers City, offered her thoughts. 

“Mikaela has always been a girl with a heart too big for her body. She sees the light in everyone and that burns so brightly in everything that she does,” Tulgestka said. 

Haley Rose, owner of Harborside Bath and Body in Rogers City, is Mikaela’s employer and she offered praise about her employee. 

“From an employer’s standpoint, I can say that Mikaela is fantastic. She is super-friendly, great with customers and she is like a walking billboard for our store,” Rose said. 

Linnea Hentkowski, Mikaela’s cousin and Miss Rogers City 2017, introduced Mikaela by saying, “you have always had the outstanding ability to make so many people proud of you by simply just being you. 

The Miss America Volunteer pageant was formed by a group in Tennessee in 2020 as an alternative national pageant. The pageant bills itself as a “nationwide, service-orientated program based in Tennessee that seeks to empower young women across the country through educational scholarships and extraordinary opportunities.”

This is the first year of the pageant, with the finals set for May 7 with preliminary events the week leading up to the finals. The contestants will compete in five areas of competition i

ncluding lifestyle and fitness, a 12-minute private interview (the largest portion of a contestant’s score), evening gown, onstage question and talent. 

Mikaela fulfilled her role as Miss Shoreline, a Muskegon pageant title she earned in 2020 before the pandemic hit, by participating in that pageant Saturday to select her successor. She then traveled back to Rogers City for Sunday’s event. 

All of the states and the District of Columbia are expected to field contestants at the national pageant in May.

Mikaela is the daughter of Missy and Bill Bannon of Rogers City. She is attending Northern Michigan University in Marquette studying medical esthetic science/cosmetology.