Miss Chain of Lakes 2019 Samantha Bretz
Congratulations on 2nd Runner up in the 2019 Miss Minnesota Competition!

Photo by Paula Preston

Samantha Bretz , Miss Chain of Lakes 2019,  is a "Playologist" at the Minnesota Children's Museum. This volunteer work aligns with her social impact: “Experiential Education and the Power of Play.” She recognizes that children thrive in educational environments where they are permitted to play, create, collaborate, and reflect. Samantha has been an instructor at Creating Landscapes, an organization that provides arts-infused learning experiences for students of all ages to explore subjects like writing, music, math, science, and world cultures. There she developed an experiential learning curriculum based on movement and storytelling for their summer program.

Samantha is a performer in many mediums: her talent at Miss Chain of Lakes was a classical ballet en pointe performance to “Amour” from Don Quixote by Ludwig Minkus. She has worked as a director/choreographer at The Croswell Opera House and served as President and choreographer for the Orchesis Dance Company at Allegheny College. She loves to sing, and toured New Zealand in 2017 with the Allegheny College Chamber Choir. She currently dances in the Twin Cities with the Sleigh Belle Dancers, a holiday kick jazz dance ensemble.

A graduate of Allegheny College in Pennsylvania, her career brought her to Minnesota as a financial analyst at Boston Scientific. She graduated magna cum laude with her B.A. in economics, and was elected to the selective Phi Beta Kappa honor society and received honors for her undergraduate research on the intersection of minimum wage policy and poverty. She was valedictorian of her graduating class in Adrian, Michigan. 

Samantha loves the community of the Miss America Organization and the blessing of getting to know like-minded women who participate in the organization. Being a titleholder is the opportunity to inspire other women to challenge social norms, and to continue to make the world a better place by addressing inequalities and serving others.