Tika Ann Pritchard, 18, Teays Valley High School senior. Tika is the daughter of Tyke and Helen Pritchard of Ashville.

At Teays Valley Tika is active in Teen Institute, student body vice president, member of women's chorus and symphonic choir, teacher's aide, all-star competition cheerleader, cheerleading instructor, Spirit Club, March of Dimes volunteer, ambassador for Peters Photography, and varsity football and basketball cheerleader.

After high school, Tika plans to attend a four-year college, most likely The Ohio State University or Miami of Ohio and major in psychology with a minor in criminology. She hopes to join a sorority, make a lot of new friends and make the cheerleading squad at her college.

If she could invite anyone to the Pumpkin Show, she said it would be her mother's biological mother. She said her mother, who was adopted, recently learned her birth mother's identity. "This would give her the opportunity to learn a little about our area, and where better to do this than the Circleville Pumpkin Show? This would also give us a chance to meet and get to know each other better since we havenšt had the chance to do that yet because she lives in Billings, Mont."

Tika said her favorite memory occurred when she was in eighth grade. Her mother was pregnant with her youngest sister and had to be taken to Berger Hospital because of complications. Her mother was upset because she was unable to see Tika and another of her sisters as they rode through the Friday and Saturday parades as attendants for the Old Village Days Festival. On Saturday night, Tika and her sister made a sign that read, "I love you Mom and baby." When the float passed the Channel 5 TV camera, Tika and her sister held up the sign and blew kisses to their mother, who was watching from the hospital. Two days later, her sister was born and weighed 1 pound, 8 ounces.