It is an event that only happens once a year and this year’s competition for Miss Kauai and Miss Garden Isle promises to be one that will include a healthy mixture of local and outer island contestants. “They’re all very
It is an event that only happens once a year and this year’s competition for Miss Kauai and Miss Garden Isle promises to be one that will include a healthy mixture of local and outer island contestants.
“They’re all very well educated and they’re talented,” Rose Dahle, pageant coordinator for Miss Kauai and Miss Garden Isle, said about the eight candidates. “Every year, we have really good contestants so the competition is always really, really tough.”
Miss Kauai and Miss Garden Island Scholarship Pageant is scheduled 7 p.m. Saturday at Kauai Community College. It will include six contestants from Kauai and two from the Big Island, all from diverse educational backgrounds.
Contestants representing Kauai include 22-year-old Kapaa High School alumna Nicole Arruda; 21-year-old Kauai High School alumna Janessa Grady; 18-year-old Kamehameha Schools alumna Hualalai Grance; 20-year-old Island School alumna Stephanie Steuri; 19-year-old Kauai High School alumna Saunie Torricer and 20-year-old Kauai High School alumna Topaz Fernandez.
Big Island residents Guinevere Davenport, last year’s former Miss Kona Coffee, and Ariel Enriquez, last year’s Miss Hawaii Filipina, will also vie for the two crowns and eligible spots for this year’s Miss Hawaii USA, scheduled for this summer in Honolulu.
In line with other pageants held nationwide, Dahle said Saturday’s competition will include five juried phases: interview, swimsuit, talent, question and answer and evening wear.
As a part of the talent lineup, Dahle said there will be two vocal, two Tahitian dance and two hula performances.
Two other contestants will be performing a winter guard and martial arts performance.
But the competition isn’t about beauty alone.
To become eligible for the pageant, contestants must raise at least $100 for the state’s only Children’s Miracle Network Hospital, Kapiolani Medical Center for Women and Children in Honolulu.
The two women chosen from Saturday’s competition as Miss Kauai and Miss Garden Isle will also be required to raise at least another $250 as a Miss Hawaii USA contestant.
And because it is a scholarship pageant, the two winners will receive a $10,000 scholarship to Argosy University and the runner-up receives $6,000.
But no one, Dahle said, leaves this competition empty-handed, since every contestant is guaranteed to win at least a $2,000 Argosy University scholarship.
“It’s a really good partnership, because it’s all about being able to help kids,” Dahle said. “I really believe this is a really great program for young women.”
The reigning 2013 Miss Garden Isle, Lei Ui Kaholokula, and the 2013 Miss Kauai, Alexandra Roth, will be on hand to crown the winners on Saturday.
Tickets for the scholarship pageant are on sale for $20 in advance from any of the contestants, or $25 at the door of the Kauai Community College Performing Arts Center.
Information: 482-0142
