Bringing back Miss P.E.I.

KENSINGTON - A new pageant queen may soon be crowned in Kensington.
Ryan Simmonds and the Kensington and Area Recreation Association are working to resurrect the Miss Teen P.E.I. contest. The new Miss Teen P.E.I. International pageant would be a scholarship program for girls 13 to 17 selected to participate through the school system.
"It just started with looking at an event for the Kensington area," said Simmonds. "What sold me on it, honestly, was the scholarship."
Earlier this year, Simmonds travelled to Toronto to meet with Miss Teen Canada International representatives who gave him positive feedback regarding the re-introduction of a P.E.I. pageant.
Although there will not be a P.E.I. pageant this year, through an interview process, he selected 16-year-old Fern McFadden to represent P.E.I. at the Miss Canada International pageant in Toronto in August. Fundraising is now underway to send her there.
Simmonds plans to contact Island schools in the fall with the hope of holding the pageant in May or June 2009.
If this Miss Teen P.E.I. contest is successful, the plan is to have a second pageant, Miss P.E.I. International, featuring young women aged 18 to 25, go ahead in 2010.
"It's going to be a lot of work and will be a growing experience," said Simmonds. "If you don't try it you'll ever know if it is going to work."
Recently, CEO Sylvia Stark and reigning Miss Teen Canada International Cassondra Paletta visited P.E.I. to meet with Simmonds and McFadden.
"Back when the old Miss Canada stopped, I think women's lib was really big," said Stark. "Now, they're (pageants) coming back in surges, too swiftly, I think."
"We want a girl that can go out there and be that role model and ambassador to youth and young women," added Stark. She has to "be confident in herself and be able to stand up and say this is the right thing and this is the right path."