BY LYNNE MEREDITH SCHREIBER
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Top: Samantha Steckloff
with her grandparents Milton
and Helen Barnett.
Center: Sam and her parents
Mark Steckloff and Vicki Barnett.
Bottom: Sam with her parents and
brother Jordan Steckloff.
Opposite: Miss Michigan Madonna Emond
poses with Samantha.
1 2 •
NOVEMBER 2003 • STYLE A•1"1 - E JN
amantha Steckloff doesn't con-
sider beauty pageants sexist.
In fact, they are helping boost
her voice into the public arena
and pay her way through college.
Named Miss Farmington/Oakland
County in this year's pageant, 19-year-
old Steckloff, a sophomore at Purdue
University and the daughter of
Farmington Hills councilwoman Vicki
Barnett and attorney Mark Steckloff,
entered the contest as a way to give
voice to what has been her passion
since the age of 10: grooming today's
youth to become tomorrow's leaders.
"We need to learn how to be lead-
ers in order to instill proper values into
whatever we will be leading," says
Steckloff, who worked with the may-
ors of Farmington and Farmington
Hills to create after-school programs
and youth councils.
In high school, Steckloff created
what is now known as 2020 Vision-
Perfect Sight, an effort to register 18-
year-olds to vote and make sure they
are informed enough to choose candi-
dates.
The mayor's youth council
"empower[s] youth to have decision-
making tools, to make change and
have their voices heard," she says.
That's where the beauty pageants
come in. Steckloff first entered the
local contest when she turned 18.
Although she didn't land the title, she
received more than $1,000 in scholar-
ship money as well as the community
service award and first-runner-up sta-
tus.
This year, she won the title plus
nearly $2,000 in scholarships. She also
won the community service award.
Steckloff will now compete to become
Miss Michigan.
"Once I turned 18, I'rn no longer
eligible to be a member of the youth
council, but I still wanted to advo-
cate," Steckloff says. "I felt that hav-
ing a title would give me a megaphone
to extend everything throughout the
state. People are more willing to listen
if you have a title."
The contest included an interview,
talent category (Steckloff sang
"Someone Like You" from the
Broadway musical, Jekyll and Hyde) and
the infamous swimsuit competition.
Steckloff insists the latter is not really
based on looks; she says it's about
poise and strength.
"Most of it is based on your mind,"
she says. "At first, I did feel it was
demeaning. I was very apprehensive.
[But] only 10 percent of the whole
score is based on how you look.
"This pageant taught me so much
about myself. I've learned confidence
and the poise needed to be a strong
woman in a business world."
College hasn't stopped Steckloff
from advocating for youngsters. She is
working with the mayors of Lafayette
and West Lafayette, Indiana to start
youth councils there.
She also became more religious.
"Judaism wasn't important to me
until I went to school," says Steckloff,
whose family belongs to Temple Shir
Shalom. "There are 600 Jews out of
40,000 students; you forget where you
come from. I felt lost. I started going
to Hillel. It's a big part of me."
Steckloff is a communications major
with minors in English, political sci-
ence and theater. After grad-
uation, she hopes to
attend law school.