Essequibo Coast girl Shequana Holder was on Saturday night crowned Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship 2021 live on television at the virtual pageant, winning a $400,000 scholarship towards her education.
“It feels good being the new Miss Guyana Teen Scholar,” said the young woman. No stranger to pageantry, Shequana is a past Miss Anna Regina Multilateral School, and Miss African Essequibo 2019. She placed second at the Miss G-Division Pageant 2019 where she represented the police youth group of the Essequibo Coast.
She recently moved to Georgetown and is currently a data entry clerk at the Ministry of Health. Shequana said she looks forward to her journey as queen, which will include coordinating a job fair as well as a skills’ workshop for the youths of Queenstown, Essequibo Coast, her home village.
“Having the experience of the pageant and the digital university was very good and gives me the confidence to return to my community to help the youths there and be a role model for them,” said the young woman.
“Thank you to everyone that has supported and encouraged me along the way,” she added.
Shequana, along with seven other contestants, had over the last month competed in six preliminaries: Talent, Elocution, Multimedia Project, Personality Interview, Photogenic Competition, and Evening Wear. Compounded scores from the categories shortlisted the top three girls for the Final Question Segment that was aired live on the National Communication Network (NCN) on Saturday night.
Before the airing, a replay of snippets of the videos capturing the preliminaries showed viewers the top three for each category. The awards were then announced with Kriston Smith taking home the Best Personality and Miss Congeniality; and Kayla King with the People’s Choice – Miss Photogenic (after an online poll). The Committee Merit Award which is awarded by the Pageant Committee to candidates who have shown exemplary merit in their performance was co-awarded to Anasie Fredericks for her strength and dedication towards the completion of the pageant and Kayla King for her camaraderie, motivation and sisterhood shared with all candidates and her dedication towards the values of the pageant.
The preliminaries saw Shequana winning Best Speaker at the Elocution competition, Teija Edwards won Best Talent, and Kriston took the award for Best Health Tip Video (COVID-19 presentation). Shequana,who was elegantly dressed in a House of Pearson design, won the evening wear category where the girls wore local and international fashions.
The top three were Shequana, Kayla and Kriston. The final question, asked by host Feliz Robertson was, “Experience provides opportunities for learning and growth. How has the Miss Guyana Teen Scholar pageant experience shaped and improved your skills for effective leadership in the community and further afield?” The question was read separately to each finalist, and the others were out of earshot outside of the studio as their competitor answered. Shequana spoke of how the pageant has given her and other young women the opportunity to explore themselves, to express themselves, communicate with others and develop self-esteem. She explained that she was not always a brave person, but pageants have helped with her confidence, growth and leadership skills. She spoke of community development and using her skills to work with young people.
Kayla answered next, stating that one should always lead by example, and to do this effectively one should be able to speak firmly. She went on to explain that this pageant has helped her do just that, allowing her to use her public speaking skills to lead by example.
When it was Kriston’s turn, she shared her admiration for the Miss Guyana Teen Scholar Pageant, noting that it teaches young women to be leaders, powerful and outstanding. She spoke of her lessons on womanhood, on growing, on domestic violence and other issues that hinder the development of women in the community. She said these lessons have helped her to understand and to speak about issues with her peers and other women, and how they can overcome issues together. Kriston concluded her answer by saying that the pageant gives young women a platform with new experiences and opportunities to inspire others.
After scoring was done remotely by 4 judges at home, and 1 in-studio to deliver the results using online tallying, Shequana was named the winner, Kriston first runner-up, and Kayla second runner-up.
Last year, Shequana joined the Digital University – an online qualifying programme in lieu of the cancelled 2020 pageant due to the COVID-19 pandemic and industry-wide shutdowns – with 15 other candidates. She explained that her reason for joining the Miss Guyana Teen Scholarship Programme was to “speak for those young people that are unable to speak for themselves”, something she has always wanted to do. For her, being part of this programme was a step in the right direction. Now as the 2021-2022 Miss Guyana Teen Scholar, Shequana has won a $400,000 scholarship to pursue any field of education she wishes, a community development fund to assist in her work, and the ambassadorship to promote the involvement and participation of women and girls in education and social development.
Persons who missed the pageant broadcast can still view the full elocution, and talent preliminaries, and the virtual pageant on The Imperial House Facebook and Instagram pages.
