Xarika Casticimo was crowned the 2022 Miss Kaua‘i Filipina Saturday night before an enthusiastic, cheering audience of several hundred at the “Nothing is Impossible” pageant at the Kaua‘i War Memorial Convention Hall.
“This is the night that makes another history of Kaua‘i Filipino Community,” said Lemuel Soria, president of the Kaua‘i Filipino Community Council that presented the 62nd Miss Kaua‘i Filipina Scholarship Pageant.
“We can continue and organize this pageant even with this crucial pandemic time. This is where our theme 2022 comes, ‘Nothing is Impossible.’ There are ways that lead to everything, and if we have the will, we are the means.”
The 62nd Miss Kaua‘i Filipina Scholarship Pageant was the first pageant following the 2019 event when Isabel Gampon was crowned Miss Kaua‘i Filipina and Tiffany Sagucio was announced the first princess.
Gampon went on to earn the 2019 Miss Hawai‘i Filipina crown, and Sagucio’s sash was replaced with the Miss Kaua‘i Filipina title before the COVID-19 virus shut down the state.
COVID-19 and its variants kept the doors to the pageant shut for nearly three years, and even as the hour for opening loomed, changes and adaptations were made to accommodate the virus.
Former Miss Kaua‘i Filipina Salisa Pegeder of the 60th pageant and Bill Gaus filled the spot of the evening’s emcees to the event that included the presentation of the 2022 KFCC scholarship recipients and a tribute to the late Jose Evangelista Bulatao Jr., longtime advisor to the KFCC pageant and the founder of Bailes De Jose Dance Troupe that provided entertainment for the pageant.
Frances Virginia Muana, a Kaua‘i High School valedictorian who will be attending Georgetown University, was joined by Zoe Carvalho, another Kaua‘i High School graduate who is the daughter of Lisa Ubay and Ken Carvalho, and Wendell Marc Soriano, a Kapa‘a High School valedictorian who is heading to the University of Colorado with a major in biology/pre-nursing, as the 2022 recipients of KFCC scholarships.
Throughout the night that spanned a bit over three hours, the Bailes De Jose Dance Troupe spiced the night with numbers where it combined with dancers from the Aloha Dance Studio and the current field of candidates and Sagucio during the opening, and peppered the different competitive phases with performances.
Casticimo, the daughter of Fredulin and Mercedes Casticimo and a 2021 Kaua‘i High School graduate, en route to earning the final crown, captured numerous special awards, including the Social Media Award, the Spirit Award for Ticket Sales, the Spirit Award for Most Ads sold for the program booklet, and taking the main awards in talent for a solo rendering of Ka Lei Mokihana O Leina‘ala’s Merrie Monarch award-winning hula performance, Best in Terno Speech, and the Judges’ Interview.
Kiele Rose Casillas, the daughter of Dante and Wendy Casillas and a graduate of Kaua‘i High School, was crowned the first princess, capturing the Photogenic and Best in Swimsuit awards before being crowned to the position, where she would take over the reign should the Miss Kaua‘i Filipina be crowned Miss Hawai‘i Filipina.
Shai-Lein Acosta, the daughter of Nelson and Harvette Acosta and a graduate of the Hawai‘i Technology Academy, picked up special awards of Best Terno and Most Congenial en route to being crowned second princess.
“My biggest takeaway from this pageant is the large number of people, especially the young people, who stepped forward to make this happen,” said Nancy Apalla, pageant chairperson. “As you exit the pageant, I quote that our greater glory must never be on falling, but in rising every time we fall. Remember that ‘Nothing is Impossible.’”
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Dennis Fujimoto, staff writer and photographer, can be reached at 245-0453 or dfujimoto@thegardenisland.com.
