Miss Yuma County nets scholarship money for young women

The Miss Yuma County Scholarship Pageant is far more than a beauty pageant, as organization representatives point out.

“The young women who participate in the Miss Yuma County Scholarship Pageant do so with the hope of receiving scholarships to further their education. We are not a ‘beauty pageant,'” board member Melanie Negroni said.

“We are a scholarship pageant. The Miss Yuma County Scholarship Pageant already awards more scholarship money than any other local pageant in Arizona, and our goal is to award more than the Miss Arizona Pageant.”

The local pageant gives out more than $15,000 in academic scholarships every year, which is raised through sponsorships and fund raisers.

The latest fund raiser, a golf tournament, is scheduled to be held Sept. 18, at Mesa del Sol Golf Course, with a shotgun start at 8 a.m.

The registration deadline is Sept. 8. To request an entry form, visit www.missyumacounty.org.

The individual entry fee for the four-person scramble is $75 and includes 18 holes of golf, cart, mulligans, skins game and lunch.

The corporate buy-in cost is $400 and includes T-shirt sponsorship, four-player teams, mulligans, skins game, lunch and an ad in the pageant program book. A T-shirt sponsorship is $100.

If interested in donating items or gift certificates for a raffle, contact board member Annalisa McBride at 446-2067 or at MissYumaCounty@yahoo.com.

All funds raised will go toward scholarships and awards for county titleholders. In 2010, Miss Yuma County Jade Miller received a $5,000 scholarship, the Nancy Croninger Community Service Scholarship for $1,000 and additional gifts by local sponsors, including a one-year gym membership and tanning, teeth whitening, jewelry, hair services, luggage and stationery.

Miller also received a $2,000 clothing allowance for the state competition, as well as travel and meal expenses.

Runners-up also received scholarships, ranging from $2,500 for first runner-up to $300 for all non-finalists. Other awards included Quality of Life Scholarship for $1,000, Miss Congeniality for $500 and Miss Spirit of Yuma County for $500.

The organization is currently recruiting contestants for the 2011 Miss Yuma County Scholarship Pageant to be held at Kofa High School on Nov. 6.

An information meeting for young women interested in participating as contestants will be held Aug. 24 at 5.30 p.m. at the Miss Yuma County Office located at 464 16th St., Suite 2 (corner of 16th Street and Arizona Avenue).

Only the first 15 to turn in their correct paperwork by 5 p.m. Aug. 30, will compete. Anyone after that will be put on a waiting list.

The winner will go on to compete in the Miss Arizona pageant, and the state winner will compete in the Miss America pageant.

To compete, the women must be a resident of Yuma County for at least six months prior to the pageant and U.S. citizens. They must be at least 17 at the time of the pageant but 18 by the following Miss America pageant, which is set for Jan. 15.

They must have graduated from high school by the following Miss Arizona pageant, scheduled for June 12-18.

Contestants cannot be older than 24 at the time of the Miss America pageant. They must also be unmarried and never been married or pregnant.

In addition, contestants must be either full-time students within the county, employed full-time within the county or a combination of both part-time students and workers.

According to the organization, participants in the program not only land scholarship money but “gain poise, confidence and life skills that benefit them throughout their lives.”

The organization's website notes that its mission is to “produce excellent young women with an educational direction and relevant social platform in which they believe.”

The program also “empowers young women to achieve their personal and professional goals” and gives them a forum in which to use their “talents and intelligence to advance a national platform dedicated to making a difference in the lives of America's youth.”

Mara Knaub can be reached at mknaub@yumasun.com or 539-6856.