A new Miss Seal Beach was crowned on Sunday, March 9 in the pageant held in the Performing Arts Center on the campus of Los Alamitos High School.
Clare Draskovich, 17, who was a member of the 2013 Miss Seal Beach Court, won the title and will perform the duties that come with the position. She also won Most Photogenic and Miss Swimsuit.
There was excitement in the air throughout the evening as the contestants went through their paces, competing in various aspects of the pageant, delighting friends and family members who came out to lend their support.
The girls in the pageant were all excited about their night in the spotlight as their family members and friends watched the pageant unfold from their seats in the auditorium.
It was an evening for fun and friendly competition to see who had the most talent, charm and poise to represent the seaside city at functions over the next year. While the judges said the choice was a difficult one, they eventually chose a new Miss Seal Beach to carry on the tradition. They eventually signaled to Rosie Ritchie, the event’s coordinator and the pageant director, that their work was done. The excitement reached its peak as Draskovich was crowned by last year’s Miss Seal Beach, Jessica Jenkins, as Miss Seal Beach 2014.
Shelby Snyder was also crowned Miss Teen Seal Beach.
There were also some moving speeches during the evening by Jenkins and other retiring members of the Miss Seal Beach Court. This included the outgoing Miss Teen Seal Beach, Savannah Finch. The responsibilities that come with serving on the Miss Seal Beach Court include attending various community functions, such as mixers as well as performing volunteer work at Ronald McDonald House for families of children cancer patients and the court’s No Bullies campaign.
The following are the members of the Court and the runners up:
Miss Seal Beach: Claire Draskovich
1st. Alexis Bach
2nd Cailey Yellam
3rd Hailey Cobb
Miss Teen Seal Beach: Shelby Snyder
1st. Pauline Foster
2nd Jade Kaiser
3rd Maddie McCulloch
Jr. Miss Seal Beach: Dira Isabella Collaro
1st Chelsea Linton
2nd Katelyn Dominik
3rd Siena Betance-Sanchez
The entire pageant turned out to be a cooperative effort of the Seal Beach community.
Flowers were done by Devyns Garden, makeup by Merle Norman—both in Seal Beach— and City Manager Jill Ingram served as a judge along with Vince Bodiford from the Sun, James Castro from Republic Services, Amber Ruiz from the Los Alamitos Unified School District. Ingram delivered a heart-felt speech with regards to the dedication, responsibilities and rewards to the titles given to the court members.
