Miss Saint Patrick

Kathleen Elizabeth Wagner, better known as “Kat” by many, is a Burlington Township resident and
11th grader who is educated at home. Besides being a Junior in high school, she has been a Girl
Scout for 8+ years in Troop 23371 where she has earned her Bronze Award, the highest award a Girl
Scout Junior can earn. Kat also sells cookies during the Cookie Program and earns badges and
Journeys by learning and doing various activities. She earned her CIT (Counselor In Training) award
pin and Service to Girl Scouting Bar. She is very active in her Girl Scout troop and plans to earn
her Gold Award (The highest award a Girl Scout can earn) in the near future. She also enjoys and
has shown leadership by helping the younger Girl Scouts and doing community service with her troop.
When Kat is not busy with Girl Scouts, she dances three nights a week at Edge Dance Center where
she takes Ballet, Contemporary and Tap. She started dancing at Edge when she was Five years old up
to when she was nine when she decided to take a break from dancing due to her favorite dance
teacher leaving. This caused her to temporarily fall out of love with dance because “It didn’t feel
the same”. At the end of COVID in 2021, she decided to take up dancing once again.
Kat plans to dance at the studio she goes to as long as she can because her passion for dance has
returned, burning brighter than before.

Kat has been involved in the Burlington County Saint Patrick’s Day parade her whole life.Her first
few parades she sat on the parade route with her mother Jessica and various family members while
her dad Jon drove his tow truck in the parade. As she got older, she helped her father prep the
flatbed to be parade ready by cleaning and painting it. When Kat was three years old, she was
finally old enough to ride in the truck with her parents and her older sister, Abby. She waved to
the spectators and threw candy to them. Kat rode in the truck until she joined Girl Scouts and she
decided to walk with her troop in the parade. She enjoyed helping the other Girl Scouts carry her
troop’s banner. Kat still helps with prepping the truck to this day as it has become a family
tradition that her younger sister Carolina helps with. There are many pictures of Kat posing with
people who have been in past parades such as the Irish band The Mulligans and previous Miss St.
Patricks.

While Kat is still learning about her Irish heritage, she has recently received information from a
family member that her paternal side dates back to the early 1800s. The oldest known ancestor was
born in Tulla, Clare, Ireland under the last name Shanahan which changed to Shannon sometime in the
early 1800s due to unknown reasons. Kat was informed that there was Irish heritage on her mothers
side but the
history is unknown.