Reigning Ms. UVI and contestants pose before having lunch

Photo by Markida Scotland

Olinger Augustin |

ST. CROIX – Traditionally, the Student Government Association’s Queens Committee hosts a weekend-long retreat for the Miss UVI Ambassadorial Competition’s participants. During the retreat, contestants follow a rigorous itinerary of public appearances, themed photoshoots, and are required to attend workshops on skills that may be beneficiary.

This year the SGA Queen’s committee made it a four-day weekend retreat, which gave the current contestants an idea of what their schedule would look like once selected to serve the prestigious title.

Like every other year, the current contenders’ first public community appearance was at the Annual St. Croix Agricultural Fair or Agrifest. Uniformed in white dresses with a touch of traditional madras, the seven gutsy young women paraded the fairgrounds with style and grace.

The seven contestants attending the opening day of the 45^th Annual Agricultural Fair

Photo by Dale Morton

Contestant no. 2, Khadijah Lee, exclaimed, “I loved and admired the fact that the St. Croix Ag Fair involved the younger generation in each aspect of the fair, opening prayer done by a six-year-old and also a third grader leading the attendees in the National Anthem on piano.” Lee continued, “Not just a section, but a whole warehouse of art dedicated to agriculture, created by just about every school in St. Croix really sealed the deal for me!”

The Ag Fair appearance was just one of many activities the contenders experienced on St. Croix. Attending the Valentine’s Day Jump Up was a first for all of the contestants.

“The fact that the culture of the Virgin Islands was represented through performances, art, food and music for both tourists and locals gave me an ecstatic heartwarming emotion,” noted Contestant no. 7, Patricia Francis.

In addition to the various appearances and three photoshoots, the SGA Queen’s Committee kept the itinerary of activities an educational experience.

Contestants posing as part of the all denim themed photoshoot.

Photo courtesy of the Miss UVI Ambassadorial Facebook page.

A total of eight workshops were organized for the contestants, including Question and Answer, History of UVI, Interview Skills and Confidence Building.

These workshops were put together to get the seven contestants ready for the competition, set to take place at the Reichhold Performing Arts Center on Saturday, March 26 in St. Thomas’ Reichhold Center.