Melissa Beyrand Crowned Miss Oakland County
(MOCSP, Aug. 29. 2021)
Milford, MI – Melissa Beyrand, 21, of Milford was crowned Miss Oakland County 2021 at the annual competition held August 14, 2021. The senior engineering student at the University of Michigan – Ann Arbor won $1,575 in education scholarships as well as several other prizes and gifts. She won scholarships of $1300 for winning Miss Oakland County, $175 for the best Talent Award and $100 for the best On Stage Interview/Social Impact Pitch Award.
Ms. Beyrand, a newcomer to the Miss America Organization, will represent Oakland County at the 2022 Miss Michigan competition in Muskegon next June. A bioengineering major, the new Miss Oakland County’s social impact initiative is “Women in Science Technology Engineering Arts Mathematics (STEAM)”. She won the Best Talent Award for her striking violin rendition of Vittorio Monti’s Csardas.
Marissa Carson, 18, of Highland, a music and theater student at Oakland Community College, earned a $700 scholarship as the First Runner Up. Carson also earned the Samantha Steckloff Community Service Award and an additional $150 scholarship.
Milford’s Rebecca Kobylas, an 18-year-old student at Alma College, was the Second Runner Up, winning a $500 scholarship.
Also at the event, Stella Drozdowicz,16, of St. Clair Shores, became the 2021 Miss Oakland County’s Outstanding Teen. A junior at Bishop Foley H.S., she competed with her personal platform, “Perfectly Imperfect – Building Self Esteem”. Stella will represent Oakland County at Michigan’s Outstanding Teen competition next June in Muskegon.
The Miss Oakland County Scholarship program was not held in 2020 due to the pandemic. For the same reason, this year’s program was delayed from its usual mid-July date and was held at St. Valentine’s School in Redford Twp., instead of its usual location at Oakland University. “To safely hold the scholarship program this year, our volunteers had to overcome several pandemic-related hurdles. I am beyond proud that our sponsors once again made scholarship opportunities available for our Miss Oakland County candidates,” said Francesca Tuzzolino the program’s executive director.
The Miss Oakland County Scholarship Program is a preliminary competition to Miss Michigan and Miss America. It provides scholarship opportunities to women that either work, live or attend school in Oakland County. The Miss America Organization is the largest existing scholarship organization for young women between the ages of 17-25, making available over $45 million in scholarships each year.
All results from the Miss Oakland County and Miss Oakland County’s Outstanding Teen follow.