Michelle Font Miss Washington USA

25 year old Michelle Font, was born and raised in Renton, Washington and is of Puerto Rican and Cuban descent. She attended the Kent School District from Kindergarten to 12th grade. She is a graduate of Kentridge Senior High School where she was active as a band member, Chatelaine Dance Team Member, ASB Member and held many other leadership positions. Michelle began her college career as a math major at Western Washington University to satisfy her affinity for Mathematics. For two years Michelle remained on the Deans List for excellent academics and became a Lifetime Member of National Society of Collegiate Scholars. After having a change of heart and deciding that Engineering had a better future for her, she decided to transfer to the University of Washington (UW). While at the UW Michelle joined the Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers (SHPE) Student Chapter and later became executive Vice President, Secretary and also served as President. Through SHPE Michelle has had the opportunity to attend the National Institute for Leadership Advancement (NILA) and a number of Engineering Career Conferences and Award Conferences. She hopes to complete her Engineering degree at the UW by March of 2008. Michelle had two summer internships and has worked full-time since 2005 with the worlds leading airplane manufacturing company.

In 2003 Michelle's pageant career began when she was elected as the Scholarship Recipient for the Hispanic SEAFAIR Organization (HSO) to represent the Hispanic Community at the Miss SEAFAIR Scholarship Program for Women. Although Michelle did not place at Miss SEAFAIR, it was a life changing experience that she will always cherish. Her experience with SEAFAIR and HSO inspired her to continue as a mentor and coach for future representatives of HSO. In 2005 Michelle organized the First Scholarship Pageant for the Hispanic Community. Since then, she's been the director, producer, choreographer, coach, mentor and organizer of the Miss Hispanic SEAFAIR Scholarship Pageant. She volunteers over 500 hours a year to this organization to ensure that every year they select the BEST representative for her community. Since her year as title holder, each Miss Hispanic SEAFAIR has been among the top 8 at SEAFAIR and this year HSO made history by placing 1st runner up at SEAFAIR. Michelle is very proud of her accomplishments as director and is glad she can help make a difference, one queen at a time. This year Michelle will be temporarily passing on her roles with HSO while she dedicates herself to her reign as Miss Washington USA.

Other titles Michelle has held include: International Queen of the Pacific 2004, Miss Washington Belleza Latina 2005, Miss South King County USA 2006, Miss Photogenic Washington USA 2007, Miss North Seattle USA 2007 and now Miss Washington USA 2008.

Michelle has always enjoyed mentoring, tutoring, teaching and speaking to youth about the importance of education and following their dreams. In January of 2007 Michelle was chosen as the Keynote Speaker for the Students of Color Career Conference in Everett, WA. As a result, she found inspiration in her own speech "Dare to Dream" and tried to set an example for the students by accomplishing one of her dreams; Becoming Miss Washington USA 2008. As Miss Washington USA she is looking forward to extending her hand to all communities of Washington, helping create future leaders and inspiring everyone to follow their dreams.

"It's never too late to follow your dreams. You only live once and should make it the best life you can dream of. Be sure it's everything YOU want and do everything in your power make it real! Never give up, always be strong if you do it with your heart it should never feel wrong..." ~Michelle Marie Font