For many students a scholarship can be the difference between eagerly exploring their passions and struggling through college. For Michelle Mahler, a 21 year old senior at Missouri State University, the Bill and Virginia Ralls Darr Scholarship helped her follow her passion for fashion and helped her gain the skills to design her own wedding.
Michelle, a native of Ellington, Missouri, always had a love of art and design. “I’ve always had a creative bone. It started with art, then interior design, and in high school I really became interested in fashion design.”
A love of fashion didn’t lead to shopping sprees, but led Michelle to create her own outfits, including her own junior and senior prom dresses. She also started exploring options to translate her fashion bug into a college education that could offer a bright future career. “I mainly looked at Missouri State, which had a growing Fashion Design Department that could really help develop my skills. But it was all going to be dependent on scholarships and my counselor told me about the Bill and Virginia Ralls Darr Scholarship. ”
Bill Darr, owner of Springfield-based American Dehydrated Foods and International Dehydrated Foods, and his wife Virginia Ralls Darr both grew up in Ellington, a rural town in southeast Missouri, which they refer to as “the Home Place.” Both also are Missouri State University alumni. Well known for their philanthropy, both were raised during the Depression believing that, “When you have something, you share it with others.”
That belief, coupled with, what Virginia, a former teacher, calls the couple’s, “soft spot for children, youth, and education,” led the Darrs to create the Bill and Virginia Ralls Darr Scholarship in 1997. The scholarship provides over half of yearly tuition to outstanding students attending Missouri State University that have graduated from Southern Reynolds County R-II High School in Ellington.
Michelle notes, “That scholarship honestly has made my college experience possible. With it, I’ve been given enough freedom to focus and work harder on my studies and training, and I have been able to grow in other areas of my life.”
Michelle has put that freedom to good use as she has worked towards her goal of graduating and opening her own wedding design studio. In her time here she has built skills that helped her make designs which have been featured in multiple fashion shows (many of which have been attended by the Darrs), create and premiere her senior fashion collection, and win her department’s Best Construction Award and the Ozark Piecemakers Guild Award.
In addition she has been active in the Missouri State University Phone Campaign, Campus Crusade for Christ, and Residence Life, where her husband is an Assistant Hall Director. However, she undertook her biggest extracurricular project this past year as she made the bridesmaids dresses, the rehearsal dinner dress, and the wedding dress for her own Summer 2010 wedding. Michelle admits, “I guess I got a little carried away.” But when it comes to doing what you love, can anyone blame her?
To learn more about the Darrs and their connection to Southern Reynolds County you can click on the link below to watch a short documentary by Ozarks Public Television.
Shared Stores: The Darr Family and Reynolds County, Missouri
Samantha Francka says
How neat! Wish there were photos of some of her other designs! Does she have a website?
Sandra Miller says
Michelle doesn’t have a website but you can see many of her designs and photos of her events at her facebook page at http://www.facebook.com/michelle.kelsay and you can see some her early designs at her student webpage at http://people.MissouriState.edu/Kelsay007.