Four delegates from Northern Ontario are on their way to the Miss Canada World Pageant, after being chosen at the preliminary Miss North Ontario Regional Canada Pageant of which Renee-Anne Montepellier from Chlemsford was the winner.
The four delegates, which include Montepellier, Melanie Boudreaux, Christine Groulx, and Denise Garrido, are asking for the public's votes for the People's Choice Award. The contestant with the most votes will earn an automatic spot in the top 15 at Miss World Canada.
The pageant is currently accepting applicants aged 16-24. The contest selects young women based on "beauty with a purpose", in that this event is not about the physical beauty of the girl but the inner strength and beauty they possess, along with the desire to make a difference in their community.
The Miss Canada World Pageant will be held in Toronto on March 14 and 15.
More about each Northern Ontario contestant: (from a news release)
Christine Groulx
Christine, while born and raised a bilingual Northern Ontario
native, displayed her love of adventure and life experience by
having moved to Prince Edward Island to receive her university
education, majoring in Sociology and Political Studies.
Presently employed with the Greater Sudbury Police Services,
her career ambition is to work with the Canadian Security
Intelligence Service as an Investigation Officer. An avid
traveler since an early age, Christine continues to explore
this passion, always welcoming the opportunity to experience
culture and history in her endeavors.
An outdoor enthusiast, Christine's hobbies include fishing, camping, dancing and preserving memories of special times with scrap booking.
Her charismatic personality, love of life and positive nature is what most describe as Christine's best qualities. Her vision as Miss World Canada would be to incorporate her personality traits with her duties as MWC to enable people of all genders, cultures and religions to be comfortable in her presence. This subsequently would enable her to share the message that the Miss World Canada organization pursues in that "beauties with a purpose" will make a difference in our society by continuing their futurist work with multiple charities and organizations.
Denise Garrido
Denise, of Portuguese and Brazilian descent, was born in
Newmarket, Ontario. She is completing her fourth year of her
undergraduate degree in Biomedical Sciences at Laurentian
University, where she attains Dean's Honours status every year.
She then plans on continuing her current research at the
Northeastern Ontario Regional Cancer Center (NEORCC) for her
master's degree, focusing on breast cancer research. Denise is
also driven to pursue medical school, specializing in either
Oncology or Orthopaedic Surgery.
Denise is also quite talented within the arts, whether it be through the musical arts as she has been an avid piano player since age four, or excelling in the visual and theatrical arts in high school. She also has an impressive martial arts background where she has earned her second degree black belt in TaeKwon-Do, a sport she has practiced and taught to children for many years.
In maintaining a good personal balance, Denise has remained involved in charitable work throughout her life. The most meaningful to her has been the Cancer Society, the Terry Fox Run, and fundraisers for the NEORCC through Laurentian University's annual "Airbandz for Cancer" event.
"A diamond is a chunk of coal that made good under pressure." -Unknown
Melani Boudreau
Melani, a member of the francophone community, is currently
completing her final year to graduate as a Registered Holistic
Nutritional Practitioner" (RHNP) where her goal is to
educate the public on the importance of leading and maintaining
a healthy lifestyle. She would also like to continue her public
speaking skills in the school system to educate our youth on
this important aspect of their future.
Discipline, perseverance and dedication to her education
afforded this exceptional student the opportunity to graduate
from high school at 16 years of age. In the near future, she
would like to branch herself into counseling, to work with the
youth that have personal problems such as being bullied and
abused in our society.
A counselor for children in a local Christian summer camp,
traveling, writing poetry, horseback riding, cooking, modeling,
photography, tap dancing, music, being a social "bug"
and spending quality time with her family and friends are what
Melani lists as her favorite pastimes.
Renee-Anne Montpellier
Renee-Anne, a 21 year old Northern Ontario native will be
graduating cum laude with a degree in Biomedical Sciences this
upcoming spring and subsequently plans to attend medical school
to pursue her dream of becoming one of our country's finest
physicians, substantiating the current shortage of medical
specialists.
A multiple scholarship and award winner, Renee-Anne is currently employed at the Centre for Rural and Northern Health Research. As a bilingual member of her community, she has been a volunteer at the Northeastern Cancer Centre for many years as well as an Intern on the Board of Directors for Maison la Paix "House" (a local hospice). A dedicated member of the Big Sisters organization, Renee-Anne encourages the youth of her area to pursue their dreams as a Gymnastics Coach and mentor.
Renee-Anne's academic achievements, extensive volunteer and community service, 15 years of dance and modeling training, exceptional public speaking and stage presentation earned her the prestigious title of Miss North Ontario Regional Canada 2007.
Renee-Anne has been an ambassador of Northern Ontario participating in dozens of charity and public events over the last year. A culmination of her accomplishments have helped her to realize that to become Miss World Canada is to promote and encourage the ideal that this event is held to support "Beauties with a Purpose" and that she has realized her purpose and wants to share that with her fellowman as the representative of her country.
