Ten to compete for Miss Carival 2011

As the First Citizens Miss Carival beauty pageant looms, ten countries are preening and primping their representatives to perfection in the hope of taking home this year’s highly coveted title.{{more}}

The pageant, scheduled to take place on Friday, July 1, will see young women from as far north as Jamaica and as far south as Venezuela taking part in the competition.

Aviar Charles, Miss St. Vincent and the Grenadines 2011, is looking to keep the crown at home for a seventh time; and in so doing, join the ranks of Donna Young (1985), Roxanne Israel (1987), LaFerne Fraser (2002), Shivern Peters (2003), Casynella Ollivierre (2005) and Ronique Dellimore (2008).

Charles is a junior reporter with the Agency for Public Information and enjoys reading, writing and fishing. Charles is also involved in charity work – especially that which benefits children.

The nine other contestants are as follows: Louise Victor, Miss St Lucia; Brittany Worrell, Miss Barbados; Iantavian Queeley, Miss St. Kitts and Nevis; Kia Joachim, Miss Trinidad and Tobago; Shellya Rogers, Miss Anguilla; Yojaisy Mendoza Rondon, Miss Venezuela; Roneisha James, Miss Jamaica; Jacintha Fagan, Dominica; and Karen Shih Reyes, from the Dominican Republic.

They are expected to arrive in St. Vincent on Monday, June 27.

Twenty-year-old Louise Victor has a passion for sports, especially volleyball and track and field. Since 2009 she has been the general secretary of St Lucia’s National Youth Council. Victor is a full time student at the Monroe College (St Lucia campus), pursuing a Bachelor’s degree in Business Management and Marketing.

Nineteen-year-old Barbadian Brittany Worrell models with the New Horizon Modelling Agency, and is a graduate of the Samuel Jackman Prescod Polytechnic. She is now pursuing an Associate’s degree in Tourism and Hospitality. Her hobbies include dancing and swimming.

Kittitian Lantavian Queeley is a 23-year-old whose extra-curricular activities have included football, karate, steel pan and dance. Queeley, who started taking part in pageants in 2002, holds the title of National Carnival Queen 2010. She has a passion for photography, and has ambitions of opening her own performing arts school.

Twenty-two-year-old Kia Joachim hails from Trinidad and Tobago, and is well versed in pageantry. Earlier this year, Joachim was crowned Chaguanas Carnival Queen 2011. With a Bachelor’s degree in Marine Biology and Zoology, she has set her sights on becoming a marine ecologist. Joachim has also been involved in charity work that focuses on the elderly, the poor and young girls.

Shellya Rogers, from Anguilla is 22 years old, and currently a senior at the University of Wisconsin, Stevens Point. She is pursuing a career in the Arts industry. Rogers takes part in sports and the performing arts, and also has pageantry experience. She is the current Miss Anguilla.

Yojaisy Mendoza Rondon is a 21-year-old medical student at the Central University of Venezuela, who enjoys reading, listening to music and watching films and theatre plays. In her spare time she models with Gisselle’s modelling agency, and has also taken part in several beauty shows.

Jamaican Roneisha James began performing at the tender age of five, and has never looked back. As a teenager, the 23-year-old also wrote for the Jamaica Observer’s Teen-Age Magazine. She possesses a Bachelor’s degree in Events Management, and plans to pursue a Master’s degree in Marketing.

Jacintha Fagan, 23, is also a beauty shows pro, currently holding the title of Miss Dominica 2011. Employed as a Junior Clerk at the National Cooperative Credit Union, Fagan hopes to eventually qualify as a paediatrician. She is involved in voluntary work, playing the steel pan, dancing, singing and acting.

Twenty-one-year-old Karen Shih Reyes, Miss Dominican Republic, is currently a Social Communications student, and speaks English as well as her native tongue, Spanish. She enjoys reading, watching movies, dancing and listening to music. Reyes currently holds the title of Miss Quisqueyan Dominican Republic, and is determined to forge a career in journalism.

Since the pageant was introduced in 1985, Trinidad and Tobago has won the title twice with Brenda Fahey (1986) and Beverly Toney (1991). Dominica produced four winners in Marcella La Roque (1989), Francelia Agar (1993), Nakita Bruno (2006) and Leandra Lander (2007).

St. Kitts and Nevis have also taken the crown on four occasions: Haley Cassius in 1988, Jannette Maloney in 1992, Anginette Pujard in 1994, and Gloria Esdale in 1997.

Last year’s title was won by the St. Lucian representative Iva Satney – the first time in that country’s history of taking part in Miss Carival.

Barbados, the Dominican Republic, Anguilla, Venezuela and Jamaica have yet to walk away with this pageant’s top prize; but their representatives are undoubtedly honing their skills, intent on bringing the crown home for the first time.