Rachelle Jensen, 19, was crowned Miss Kitsap Jan. 9. Jensen, of Port Orchard, is a student at Olympic College and plans to study biology through graduate school. Jensen has volunteered at the Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle for five years and spent the last two summers working at the Point Defiance Zoo and Aquarium in Tacoma. She plans to help empower women and raise the self-esteem of young girls.

Kitsap’s new royalty will be helping to raise money for scholarships — the pageant handed out more than $33,000 in scholarships to contestants this year — and participating in parades.