OSU grad named 91st Miss Oklahoma
Thursday, June 26, 2025
Media Contact: Jordan Bishop | Editor, Department of Brand Management | 405-744-7193 | jordan.bishop@okstate.edu
Tessa Dorrell enjoys the challenge of taking the road less traveled.
When she was crowned the 91st Miss Oklahoma on June 7, it wasn’t the culmination of years spent going to pageants on the weekends and dreaming of someday wearing the crown.
She didn’t officially compete in her first pageant until her junior year at Oklahoma State University.
Instead, Dorrell worked toward a career in sports media, a vocation where women are still breaking down barriers. In her role as Miss Oklahoma, she will continue fighting those stigmas in her profession and the stereotypical pageant portrayal.
“Working in sports really prepared me to battle a situation that you go into where people have a very stigmatized view of it, and it really just taught me that you can't listen to that, because if you're really passionate about something, you'll care enough to get over it,” Dorrell said.
Despite never officially competing, that passion inspired her to try out for Miss OSU in her junior year. Growing up, she was involved as a star in the Miss Oklahoma program, where you get paired with a contestant but never compete, it is more of a mentorship program, Dorrell said.
Despite not having as much experience heading into the Miss OSU competition, she thinks it might have been a blessing in disguise.
“A lot of people would say, ‘Well, it's a disadvantage that you haven't competed as long.’ But for me, it was a big advantage, because I learned a lot in sports media about just having confidence in what you know and what got you to where you are, especially in the sports industry,” Dorrell said. “Sure, someone may not think you know enough or know a lot about this, but if there's an opportunity meant for you, it's meant for you.”
Although Dorrell didn’t win Miss OSU, it gave her the confidence to keep competing at local pageants. Eventually, she won the Miss Broken Arrow competition, which earned her a spot at Miss Oklahoma.
Dorrell competed against 39 other women at Rose State University’s Performing Arts Center in Midwest City.
As part of the Miss Oklahoma talent competition, Dorrell performed a monologue called “Walking in My Shoes.” In 2023, the Miss America competition added the “HER Story” category, which empowered contestants to choose a personal narrative.
Dorrell’s story discussed her path in sports media.
“In the sports industry, it's really not about what other people think, it's about what you think,” she said. “Pageants are kind of the same way. If I hadn't stopped listening to what people said about pageants or pageant girls, I would have never done it. But because I was able to get out of my comfort zone and just be confident in the idea that my journey in pageants is what I make of it, that really helped me understand that I'm in control of what I get out of situations.”
As a 2025 sports media graduate from OSU’s School of Media and Strategic Communications, Dorrell was about to embark on her broadcasting career. A position at KOKH Fox 25 in Oklahoma City will have to wait now after Dorrell’s coronation.
In addition to her monologue, she discussed her community service initiative, “Partners Club: Empowering Special Education in Oklahoma.”
A daughter of two educators, Dorrell understands the importance of special education in the lives of people in another community who often feel stigmatized. Her father, Ted, is a coach and teacher at Jones High School and her mother, Tami, was a counselor at Choctaw Middle School before retiring.
“I worked in schools and their special education departments,” Tessa Dorrell said. “We try to pair special needs students with volunteers in the classroom, and it's an effort to not only help the special education classes, but teach students what it means to be empathetic toward people of different backgrounds. So, right now, we're putting things together to make sure I can take that into schools. … Both my parents are teachers, so I learned a lot from them regarding making sure to care for everybody in a school setting.”
Dorrell earned a $30,000 scholarship from being crowned Miss Oklahoma, which she said will help her immensely with student debt. She and her twin brother, Treyton, have both received scholarships to help further their careers.
Treyton was named a Goldwater Scholar, Wentz Research Scholar, OSU Alumni Association Outstanding Senior and National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship recipient.
A mechanical and aerospace engineering graduate from the College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, he is now working toward a Ph.D. at Purdue University.
“He did his own work on the financial situation at college,” Tessa Dorrell said jokingly.
As part of the sibling rivalry, Tessa could bring something home at the next family outing to combat her brother’s accomplishments: the title of Miss America.
The 2026 Miss America will be crowned at a weeklong competition from Sept. 2-7 at the Walt Disney Theater in Orlando, Florida.
The competition has come a long way from its beginnings at the Fall Frolic in 1920s Atlantic City, New Jersey. Then, the winner was regrettably named “The Most Beautiful Bathing Girl in America.”
Six Miss Oklahomas have won the Miss America crown, the second most of any state, but none were OSU graduates. Betty Thompson came the closest in 2012, finishing as first runner-up.
Dorrell hopes to use her platform as Miss Oklahoma and potentially Miss America to continue inspiring young women to take the road less traveled, so maybe one day, it will be a little more well-worn path.
“One of my biggest goals, besides working with special education this year, is to show girls that they can do this, no matter if they've done it for 12 years or two years, that this is something that you can do well in and have a lot of fun with,” she said. “The biggest thing to gain, besides scholarships and service opportunities, is the growth within yourself. It's a great opportunity.”