Miss Carbon County Outstanding Teen Skylynn Basso. ETV News stock photo by Traci Bishop.
The Miss Carbon County Scholarship Pageant organizers visited the Carbon County Commissioners on Wednesday for the annual discussion of funding for the organization.
They began by stating that the Miss Carbon County organization is currently part of the Miss America organization as well as a representative of the Miss Utah and Miss Utah Outstanding Teen organizations. It was explained that the Miss America organization has undergone numerous changes in the way that the program is ran, including changes to its leadership.
With these changes in mind, the Miss Carbon County Scholarship Organization officially announced its separation from Miss America to become a community-based program. Organizers believe that this will greatly benefit those that are competing. A major benefit would be that the commissioners could allow the yearly allotted funds for the girls’ competition fees to be made into scholarship funds instead. Each year, there is an entrance fee for Miss Utah of $1,500 and a fee of $400 for Miss Utah Outstanding Teen.
Members of the organizations believe these monies could be turned into a scholarship of up to $2,000 or $2,500 and could be an earned scholarship toward the school of the recipient’s choosing. This would benefit those that are crowned in August of this year.
The monies would be preferable as a check to the organization and could be used for housing, books, tuition and fees. The organizers reminded the commissioners that the girls serve the county in many ways, such as attending events, hosting fundraisers and more.
Questions were raised by the commissioners, such as the amount that the girls currently receive once they are crowned. The current scholarship is a cash scholarship and is earned when the girls request funding, which means that the amount varies per year. The age groups for the competition are 13-17 and 17-24.
While the commissioners did not reject the idea, Carbon County Attorney Christian Bryner stated that he wishes to ensure that it is legal for the county to take this route before anything is approved. Following additional questions about the organization, the approval or denial was tabled upon legal documentation being reviewed.