Nov. 16, 2008 — The five contestants for the title of Miss St. Croix were introduced to the public Sunday night in a ceremony highlighted by Crucian culture, images of strong black women and calls for community service.
The event, Miss St. Croix 2008-2009's Crucian Tea Party, was held in the courtyard of Fort Frederik in Frederiksted.
The contestants were introduced by the reigning Miss St. Croix, Chantal Harrigan, who said they were coming in the image of "strong black women, such as I am."
As each entered, Harrigan challenged them for their names and who they came as. The five young women, and the spirit they invoked, are:
— Elizabeth Nieves, invoking the spirit of Rosa Parks.
— Tina Louise Pierce, the first black woman to serve in the U.S. Congress.
— Cherise King, the media giant Oprah Winfrey.
— Chenelle Brady, St. Croix leader "Queen Mary" Thomas, the St. Croix woman who helped lead the 1878 Fireburn revolt.
— Shaniqua Robinson, civil rights leader and wife of the Rev. Martin Luther King, Coretta Scott King.
One of those five will be crowned the new Miss St. Croix at a ceremony to be held Dec. 14.
Part of the pageant process is a commitment to community service. Each of the five has to pick a cause she will champion if she should get named the next Miss St. Croix. Public service gives participants the chance to do more than help out, "not just by being a part of something, but of making something happen," said Speaker Rashidi Clenance. "All you young ladies will have the opportunity to make things happen."
Jamal Drummond and Essi Gaston-Edwards, the chair and vice chair of the Miss St. Croix Pageant Committee, acted as hosts for the evening. The introduction of the candidates and speeches were interspersed with music and dance performed by a youth band, a drum trio and the Quadrille Dancers of the St. Croix Education Complex.
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