The 2009 Miss Mercer County scholarship competition was held at the Hilton Garden Inn on Sunday October 26, 2008! Katie Berry, a sophomore at Fordham University, was crowned the new 2009 Miss Mercer County. As Miss Mercer County, Katie has been involved with numerous community service projects and non-profit organizations. She has several upcoming appearances where you can meet her and get to know more about her platform: HIV and AIDS Awareness and Prevention.

On Saturday, March 21st, she will be at the Big Brothers Big Sisters Bowl–A–Thon at Hamilton Bowling Lanes. On Sunday, March 22, she will be at the Sovereign Bank Arena for the Ryan's Quest Charity Game as well as the Trenton Devils Hockey game following the event! Katie will also be visiting local elementary schools throughout the month of March as a celebrity reader. She will be reading a story about making healthy decisions. Katie believes that by encouraging young children to make healthy decisions, it promotes a greater sense of self-confidence. This will help young children make better decisions when they are faced with more difficult challenges as adolescents. Katie feels that prevention is the best medicine regarding HIV/AIDS. As Miss Mercer County, Katie has been able to bring awareness to her platform and she believes that education is the basic step to achieving that goal.

Katie will be conducting a Teddy Bear Drive fundraiser from now until March 31st. You may drop a Teddy Bear off at The Rech Center for Performing Arts – Buckley Plaza 621 Rt. 130 North in Hamilton. These Teddy Bears will then be donated to Pediatric HIV / AIDS patients in our area. You may also have your group or organization collect the bears and Katie will come and pick them up after the Teddy Bear Drive is over. She will also be selling HIV/AIDS Awareness Pins and Bracelets with 100% of the profits going to HIV/AIDS research.

Katie will represent Mercer County at The Miss New Jersey Scholarship Competition which will be held in Ocean City New Jersey in June. She will compete in Talent, Swim Wear, Evening Wear and Interview.

If you are interested in Katie Berry speaking to your group about HIV/AIDS Awareness, if you would like her to make an appearance at your next event, or if you are interested in participating in the Teddy Bear Drive, please contact the Executive Director of the Miss Mercer County Scholarship Competition, at mercercountypag@aol.com or visit http://www.rechcenterdance.com/missmercercounty.