Students show off their smarts, skills and school spirit in Ms. Olivet Pageant

By Jenna Larkin on 3/25/2011 Ms. Olivet has been a pageant competition on campus for at least the last five years. This year, it took place March 15 in the Mott Auditorium. The pageant was created to recognize women that display individual and social responsibility in their behavior on campus.

The prize winners (second from left) Kazette Chan, Christine Chaney, and Michelle Koebel line up at the end to be applauded and presented their prizes.(Robert Baker)
Ms. Olivet was judged by five judges, including previous crown winners, homecoming queen senior Katie Koralewski and Charlotte Frontier Days Queen senior Hanannah Horn, along with junior Anthony Bradley, senior Serafin Llerena, and Judy Fales, librarian assistant. The pageant featured four rounds that included personal creativity, professional presentation, talent, and a question and answer round. Winners received prizes of $50 for third, $150 for second, and $300 for first place.

When asked how it felt being on the other side of the judges' table in a pageant, Horn said, "Being a judge was different for me because I knew exactly how each girl felt going on stage. It's not an easy thing to do but each girl was wonderful and I give them a lot of credit for just competing."

Third place winner Michelle Koebel sang a song in the Ms. Olivet pageant.(Robert Baker)
The event took place at 9 p.m. and was hosted by Olivet College students Brittany Marshall, junior, and Jania McCorkle, freshman. The pageant contestants included freshmen Hannah Dirkmaat and Heather Lauwers, sophomores Kazette Chan and Amanda Paxson, juniors Cara Van Dam, Michelle Koebel, Riana Rowles and Christine Chaney, and senior Alyssa Boudros. Each of these girls represented a certain club, or organization.

In-between the rounds, audience members were included in fun "minute to win it" games and activities that the hosts had provided, and winners were rewarded with cash prizes of five dollars or more. These games had no age limit; one little winner won a dance competition and she couldn't have been more than three years old!

The round after introductions involved business wear. This portion of the competition depended on the careers the competitors were going in too. Some of the young women sported business suits, while others showed off their scrubs and creative tie dyed lab jackets.

The talent portion of the pageant was possibly the most entertaining. Some of the girls really put themselves out there displaying poetry, singing, flute playing and belly dancing. Boudros did something called "Slam Poetry" where she spoke about something very personal. "I decided to do the poetry because writing poetry is a talent of mine and I did not want to just stand up there and read a poem. I have seen some other
Kazette Chan won first place in the Ms. Olivet Pageant and $300.(Robert Baker)
people perform slam poetry on YouTube and decided to give it a shot. It was different, but I had a good time. Slam poetry is supposed to be done about something that you are passionate about, something that gets you going, enraged or excited, so I thought my topic was pretty relevant to life and society and also something personal to me," she said.

The question and answer round was probably the most challenging because the girls got up individually, drew a question out of a box and had to answer on the spot. All the girls did a wonderful job and all fully answered their questions.

In the end, after the judges tallied up their scores, third place went to Koebel, second place went to Chaney, and first went to Chan.

"I thought it would be fun to do. Everyone was more excited for me to be in it than myself... and I have nothing to lose," said Chan

Chan displayed a moving song about her family in her home language of mandarin for her talent. The song led her to tears and brought some of the audience to their feet. "I usually don't share a lot about myself to others, but when it comes to music, it's just... like some kind of power. Because music itself is a gift to share," she said.