Krisandra Henry, an aspiring flight attendant, outshone five other young ladies to take the crown in the Miss St. Joseph High School pageant at the National Cultural Centre (NCC) on Saturday evening.
Henry, who was favoured by the audience, is a 15-year-old, whose dream is to one day become a flight attendant. Her platform focused on Land Pollution and when it was question time, she had no difficulty in answering. In addition, Henry’s talent piece, a steel pan rendition of the song, “I want to serve my country,” left the crowd in awe and earned her the ‘best talent’ prize.
Along with her trophies, sash and crown, the queen received a $40 000 scholarship/book prize, a $30 000 computer package from Global Technology, a basket of beauty products, a pair of gold earrings, a $5000 gift certificate from Dhoray’s Shopping Centre and a Caribbean Queen Package from Nayelli’s Beauty Salon.
The other contestants were 1st runner up, Nakisha Bookie; 2nd runner up, Yulanda Geer; and Jenika Scott, Tabitha Singh and Dachelle Watson.
Bookie also received a hearty response from the crowd with her looks reminding many of popular rapper, Nicki Minaj. The 14-year-old, whose platform was teenage pregnancy, gained a boost in confidence when spectators threw remarks such as “You look like Nicki baby!” and “Nicki Minaj! We love you!” The first-runner up received a $15 000 computer package from Computer World, a beauty package from Nalini’s Salon Beauty Salon, a pair of gold earrings, a $5000 gift certificate from Elaine’s Fashion and a basket of beauty products. Bookie also walked away with prizes for Best Evening Gown, Best Smile and also Miss Photogenic.
Second runner-up Yulanda Geer also took the Miss Congeniality prize. The 14-year-old, who aspires to become a dermatologist, performed an interpretive and cultural dance. She received a pair of gold earrings and a $5000 gift certificate from Elaine’s Fashion.
The other contestants in the pageant also received positive responses for their talent pieces which included a cultural showcase, a dramatic piece and a song.
The Miss St. Joseph High School Pageant, hosted by the St. Joseph High School Old Students’ Association in collaboration with the school, benefits the contestants as well as their school. The funds that are raised through this event have been used in projects to improve the school so as to better educate students of the institution. Projects that have been completed as a result of this pageant are the building of a new computer laboratory and the renovation of the science laboratory.
This event usually has segments for senior and junior queens but there was only one queen in Saturday night’s affair. The event also did not have its usual turnout as seats at the back of the NCC were empty. However it was a good show, commencing just about 20 minutes later than the programme time and concluding at 11pm.
