Seven teenagers up for Miss Heritage

Seven teenage girls, who are vying for the title of the National Secondary Schools Ms Heritage, were officially sashed on Monday.{{more}}

The young ladies include Mililone Edwards of the West St George Secondary School, Sharikah Rodney of St Joseph’s Convent Kingstown, Nia Grecia of the Intermediate High School, Crystel-Lyn Brown of the Bequia Community High School, Kia May of the Sandy Bay Secondary School, Terreka Nero of the Buccament Bay Secondary School and Lateefa Noel of the Girls’ High School.

All of the girls were presented with their sashes on Monday, during the sponsorship launch at Scotiabank, the super platinum sponsors for the event.

Personal Banking Manager Lesley Bowman noted that Scotiabank is pleased to partner with other sponsors to put on the much anticipated show.

In her remarks, Bowman advised the delegates to treasure the experiences that they would gain from being a part of the event.

“To you, the participants, commitment in whatever you do, respect for self, the institution you represent, your sponsors, your community and this country of St Vincent and the Grenadines is key to your ongoing development and successes in life,” Bowman said.

“We urge you to embrace the training as the benefits you will gain cannot be replaced. As young people, you are the future of this society”.

Minister of Tourism and Culture Cecil McKie shared similar sentiments and encouraged the girls to take the process very seriously.

Mckie also congratulated the committee for doing a wonderful job in preparing for the Ms Heritage show.

“I do not want you to underestimate what you are doing here for yourselves as a group, for the Girls’ High School…but by extension, what you are doing for St Vincent and the Grenadines,” Mckie said.

“Over the years, St Vincent and the Grenadines has come to expect nothing but the best from this heritage pageant”.

During the launch, the official pageant banner was unveiled.

The banner was designed by Jadric Cummings of Child Prodigy Creationz and depicts several images that are featured in the 2013 VINLEC calendar, which inspired this year’s theme “Reflecting on the Past, Gifting the Future: Inspiring Innovation through Imagination”.

Persons in the audience were also treated to a special cultural presentation, during which cake dancers from Union Island showcased the old tradition of “dancing the cake”, which took place when two persons were to be joined in matrimony.

Chairperson of the pageant committee Latoya De Roche-John thanked all of the sponsors for their support.

The sponsors include Stir Media Group Inc, St Vincent Brewery, St Vincent and the Grenadines Broadcasting Corporation, Digicel, The News newspaper, IKTV, Chef’s Air Conditioning, NBC radio, Trotmans Electronics, KPMG, Grenadine House and Standard Shippers Inc.

The Ms Heritage pageant was started in 2003 as an in-house pageant at the Girls’ High School. In 2009, as part of the Vincy Homecoming initiative, the pageant evolved into a national event, hosted biennially by the all-girls institution, which is open to girls from all secondary schools.

The National Secondary Schools Ms Heritage Pageant will be held on October 19 at Victoria Park. (BK)