The current, reigning Miss Seal Beach, Joy Knepper, will relinquish her crown on Sunday, March 10, in the Performing Arts Center of Los Alamitos High School.
Knepper, 21, will crown a new Miss Seal Beach that evening, and help continue a tradition in the Seaside city that stretches back to the early 1900s.
When Knepper tried out for the pageant, she said she did it for the experience.
“I wanted to meet some great people and make connections in Seal Beach with girls my age and thought it would be a great opportunity,” she said. “I saw it as a great learning experience and a way to learn to be up in front of people.”
Knepper said participating in the pageant also dovetailed nicely with her educational pursuits. She is a communication major with a minor in leadership at Azusa College of the Pacific, a private Christian university located near Los Angeles.
“Being in the pageant and serving as Miss Seal Beach has exceeded my expectations,” Knepper said. “With it being my first time, I did not expect to win, or even make it on the court. It’s been a wonderful experience and I’ve learned a ton from it. I would definitely recommend it to other girls and young women.”
Knepper said the Miss Seal Beach program offered her a wide array of activities in which to participate.
“It’s a very good way to serve and give back to other people,” she said. “The pageant itself was an unforgettable experience along with the Christmas parade. One of the most memorable was volunteering at the Thanksgiving Dinner when we spent the morning making meals for the people who did not have families to share the holiday meal with and to help some of the less fortunate than ourselves. I feel so abundantly blessed to be able to take the time to serve with other people.”
Knepper said the program was also a lot of fun.
“It was nice to hang out with girls from different ages and to hear their life stories and experiences and be able to learn from them as well.”
Knepper said her pageant participation may also help her in her career path.
“I’m working to become an event coordinator,” she said. “Here at school I’m on the committee that plans all the social events for the school.”
Knepper said that Rosie Ritchie, who took over coordinating the event a year after longtime Miss Seal Beach Pageant Director Barbie Meyer retired, has been an inspiration to her and the other pageant participants.
“Rosie made a lot of connections and opened up a lot of opportunities for us,” Knepper said. “Meeting all of the different business people in Seal Beach, going to the ribbon cuttings and doing all the other stuff has been fantastic.”
Knepper has lived in Seal Beach since she was born into a close-knit family. She is the youngest of four children of J. and Donni Knepper.
“My dad was a pastor’s kid and moved around a lot. My mom grew up in Southern California,” she said.
She has two older brothers, Jason and Jeramy and an older sister Janelle.
“They were all very excited and they were all there for the pageant and crying in the audience,” she said.
The Miss Seal Beach Pageant 2013 is still looking for participants.
The event bills itself as “An organization that consistently brings amazing young women to the forefront and supports them as they work to achieve their academic and personal goals.”
There are four categories with position on the Miss Seal Beach Court:
Miss SealBeach – ages 17-21
Miss Teen Seal Beach – ages 13-16
Jr. Miss Seal Beach (must be in grades 4-6)
Little Miss Seal Beach (must be in grades 1-3)
For applications, go to rosieritchie.com and click on Miss Seal Beach.
For more information, call (562) 810-0078.
