Miss Culver City Scholarship Program Crowns their 2013 Titleholders

On Feb. 16, young ladies competed against themselves to wow the judges and take home the coveted Miss Culver City, Miss Los Angeles County, and Miss’s Teen titles at the Morgan Wixson Theatre in Santa Monica.

The Miss Culver City Program recognizes young women for their communication skills, creative talent and cultural knowledge by awarding titleholders with scholarships. The women selected to represent Culver City and Los Angeles County, move on to compete for the title of Miss California, and eventually, Miss America.

Even though not all participants move on after the competition, program director Ken Rockey insists, “they come out of here—better equipped to communicate and sell themselves–and on top of that their self-esteem and self-confidence—they know there’s nothing they can’t handle.”

Before the program, contestants engaged in offstage interviews in which the judges got the chance to learn more about each individual girl and her respective background. The official program began at 6:30 p.m. with a hip-hop dance, performed by the Teen segment of the competition.

The judging segment of the program started off with the onstage interview questions. In this section, girls picked a random slip from a bowl; each slip containing a question involving, “politics—schools–about your platform, current events,” that each girl had to answer in front of the judges and the audience.

This section prompted the girls to think creatively; they were judged on how well they could communicate and express their ideas about imperative present issues.

As Rockey explains, the girls were evaluated on the basis of if this, “girl’s got it together, she’s a very good interview or she’s very knowledgeable and speaks well, she’s intelligent can think on her feet.”

The following segments of the program involved active-wear, swimsuit and formal-wear presentations. The final contest consisted of the talent section, during which girls showcased their unique abilities, including opera, Irish dance, jazz dance and playing saxophone, to name a few.

The program finale consisted of outgoing presentations given by the 2012 titleholders, including Monet Bagneris, Miss Los Angeles County, Laura Berger, Miss City of Los Angeles, Marina Inserra, Miss Culver City, Olivia Sichneller, Miss Culver City Outstanding Teen, and Danamarie McNicholl-Carver, Miss Los Angeles Outstanding Teen.

After their presentations, the past titleholders crowned Miss Los Angeles County-  Anna Lisa Matias; Miss Culver City – Katy Tang; Miss Los Angeles County’s Outstanding Teen – Savannah Preuss; Miss Culver City’s Outstanding Teen – Kirsten Bangs

The new 2013 Miss titleholders include, Joelle Gregor—first runner-up and People’s Choice Award, Eileen Farley—Swimsuit, Miss Congeniality and second runner-up, Katie Tang—Interview, Talent and Miss Culver City, and Annalisa Metillas—Miss LA County.

Though the competition may seem intimidating and hectic, Rockey insures that the Miss Culver City program is one in which girls thrive and develop in a comforting environment.

While Rockey and his wife Colleen invest a lot into the program in terms of helping girls to receive scholarships, preparing them for, “interviews and wardrobe or whatever is necessary,” Rockey feels that his support to the program is more than reciprocated by getting, “quite a bit back just helping the girls achieve their goals and aspirations of wherever they’re headed in life.”