Dominica: Meet five contestants all set to participate in Miss Kalinago Pageant 2022

Roseau, Dominica: After the announcement of the Miss Kalinago pageant 2022, the government of the Commonwealth of Dominica outlined the contestant who will compete in the competition. 

Ministry of Environment, Rural Modernization and Kalinago Upliftment, the Kalinago Barana Aute, as well as the Kalinago Events Committee will host the pageant and stated that around five contestants would be the participants of the event. 

Read Here: Full List of five contestants: 

• Contestant 1- Stashar Lucien

Ambitious, bold and energetic are a few selected words used to describe 17 years old Stasher Lucien who resides in the hamlet of Bataca. She started her educational journey at the Ebernezer Seventh Day Adventist Primary School and then moved on to the Convent High School where Math, P.O.B and Geography were her favourite subjects. During her secondary education, Lucien engaged in the 4.H Club, Netball team, the Waitukubuli Dance Company and Striders Athletics Club as extracurricular activities. 

In her leisure time, she enjoys watching educational videos, dancing and making Tik Tok videos. In the future, she aspires to become a Flight Attendant since it has always been her dream to travel the world, meet new people and learn different languages. 

Stashar’s platform is climate change, as she wants to raise awareness of this topic. She made a decision to partake in the Ms Kalinago Pageant to boost her self-confidence, showcase her talent and embrace her Kalinago ancestry.

• Contestant 2- Adella Kristina Florent

Born on December 6th, 2002, to John Florent and Adasa Lockhart, Adella Kristina Florent grew up in Atkinson and “Wynicah” Bataca as a most beloved child. She attended the Atkinson Primary School till age 11, then moved to the USA to live with her father. She attended Middle School in the US. 

She returned to Dominica at age 13 and completed her high school education at the Castle Bruce Secondary School. Adella has plans to join the US Air Force, but has decided that she would first love the opportunity to represent her people of the Kalinago Nation. 

As her platform, she has chosen Inclusion for Hearing Impaired Persons through ASL (sign language). As a child, Adella was fascinated by a language with fingers and started teaching herself some basics of the language. As she grew older she became aware of how vital this language was to persons who were deaf. 

Adella would describe her childhood as happy and filled with love, yet she realised that many deaf children are isolated and excluded because the people around them cannot communicate with them. And so, Adella will begin an advocacy to include sign language classes at schools and in courses offered by government agencies like the Adult Education and Youth Division, because no child or adult should be left out and denied basic opportunities.

• Contestant 3-Adicia Burton

Adicia Burton was born and raised in the hamlet of Crayfish River of the Kalinago Territory in Dominica. She was raised to be a disciplined scholar, athlete and is an art and culture enthusiast. She firmly believes in the holistic development of the individual which she attributes to her upbringing. 

She captured the title of the Salybia Primary School Princess Pageant in 2010 and the national title of the Dominica Carnival Princess Show in 2012. She graduated as valedictorian of both her primary and secondary schools and additionally named student of the year of the Castle Bruce Secondary School. 

In 2019, Burton was awarded for her excellent performance in the 2019 CSEC examinations placing among the top 3 scholars in Dominica. Adicia has represented Dominica at regional and international tournaments in various sporting disciplines. 

At 15, she captained the dynamic duo who won the Youth Olympic Beach Volleyball Qualifiers and represented Dominica at the 2018 Youth Olympic games in Buenos Aires, Argentina and is one of Dominica’s few youth olympians. 

Burton is thoroughly engaged in her community where she works passionately for the preservation of Kalinago culture and indigenous youth empowerment as a Youth Parliamentarian, Kalinago Representative of the National Youth Council of Dominica, vice-president of the Kalinago Youth Council, public relations officer of the Karifuna Cultural Group, member of the Karina Cultural Group and former president of the Kalinago Lieutemati (Progress) Club at the Dominica State College. 

She recently graduated from the Dominica State College with honors and holds an associate degree in Math, Biology and Chemistry. In a world where change is the only constant, she believes that the integration of the Kalinago people is the way forward for her community, which is why her platform as a Miss Kalinago contestant is Unity.

• Contestant 4- Chi’na Nacali Tulloch

Chi’na is the kalinago name for Blossom and Nacali is a kalinago name which means, “My First Daughter”. Blossom was born and raised in Castle Bruce for 16 years, but everything about her remained Kalinago.

Blossom is a part of a big family with six siblings from the community of Sineku. She attended the Castle Bruce Primary School in her early years and went on to complete her tenure at the Castle Secondary School. Chi’na is an outgoing, athletic social butterfly. 

One of her favourite past time is football. She is currently a member of the Kalinago Women’s Football Team and a member of the Dominica National Women’s Team where she plays the position of a center forward. Chi’na is no stranger to the spotlight especially when it comes to excelling at sports. In addition to her ties with football, Chi’na is also a medic on the Connect 767 East Central Football Club. Is there no end to her talents?

Her dreams and aspirations is to become a master Chef and one day hopes to open her own restaurant.

This audacious young lady has chosen as her platform “Age is Just a Number”. Chi’na says that people should not give up on life when they reach a certain age, and wants people to continue doing whatever they love within reason as long as they can. “Stay healthy! Stay strong! Be wise and make a good and positive difference!” She says.

• Contestant 5- Aniska Auguiste

Eighteen-year-old Aniska Auguiste is from the community of Bataca, where she lives with her parents and brothers. She completed her secondary education at the Castle Bruce Secondary School and enjoyed representing the school playing one of her favourite sports, volleyball. 

Aniska is obsessed with the colour black. Currently, Ms Auguiste attends the Dominica State College where she majors in Mechanical Engineering. In her spare time, she enjoys listening to music, writing songs, singing and dancing. 

She is an active member of the Karifuna Cultural Group and urges other young people to engage themselves in various activities to promote our cultural identity. In the future, Aniska wishes to further her studies in Mechanical Engineering to become a fully qualified mechanical Engineer. Her platform is ‘youth involvement in Kalinago culture’.