Copyright 2007 Miss Miami Scholarship Pageant.

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MEET MISS MIAMI 2007

TARA SZCZEPANSKI

Tara Szczepanski is a 20-year-old senior at the University of Central Florida with a double major in Political Science and Psychology. Completing her undergraduate degree in two years, she plans to continue with her education and attend Rollin’s College to obtain a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).  Tara’s career ambition is to become an attorney, and after obtaining her MBA, she plans to pursue a Juris Doctorate (JD) degree in law school.

Tara was born on March 5, 1987 in Santa Monica, California to parents Marian and Myrna Szczepanski. Tara and her two brothers, Philip and Mark, are first generation Polish-Filipino American. Because of her diverse ethnic background, Tara strongly values cultural heritage and diversity and has had the opportunity to travel outside the United States to learn about other cultures and lifestyles.

Tara has studied Filipino and Polynesian cultural dancing since the age of eight. She has performed with community and church dance troops, most recently being a member of Kalena’s Polynesian Ohana. For the Miss Florida competition, she will be performing a Polynesian cultural dance from the island of Tahiti called the O’tea. The Tahitian O’tea is considered to be the most spectacular dance of the South Pacific and is said to be a competition between the dancers and the drummers to see which can go faster. As a member of Kalena’s Polynesian Ohana, Tara learned to make her own costumes and made the Tahitian costume she will be competing with at Miss Florida.

Tara is a newcomer to the Miss Florida pageant and is determined to represent the city of Miami proudly. Prior to competing in the Miss Florida (MAO) system, Tara has competed in Miss Florida Teen USA, Miss Florida Teen United States, Miss Florida Teen International (4th Runner up, 2004), and Miss Florida Teen American Coed (1st Runner up, 2006).

Tara’s goal as Miss Miami and as a contender for Miss Florida is to “SPEAK” to the community. SPEAK stands for Suicide Prevention, Education, Awareness, & Knowledge and focuses on preventing suicide among high school and college students through educational programming, promoting awareness, and spreading knowledge. The purpose of educational programming is to teach youths how to identify the symptoms and causes of suicide, and how to handle themselves or others when faced with suicide. Promoting awareness through local and national media is important in decreasing the frequency of suicides occurring in the United States by raising awareness of hope and help centers.

The intent of the last component, spreading knowledge, is to alleviate the negative stigmas and myths that encompass suicide which prevent individuals from seeking help.

To advocate suicide prevention, Tara volunteers as a counselor at a crisis center that is dedicated to improving the emotional well-being of individuals and families by providing suicide prevention, crisis intervention, and education services.