Miss Avalon Achievement 2010

Emily Leonard of Placentia has taken home some of the top prizes in the 2010 Avalon Achievement Competition held in late May in Blaketown.

Ms. Leonard was one of a number of locals, including Shane Regular and Samantha Hancock from the Placentia area and Natasha and Stephanie Warren from Chapel Arm, who participated in the competition.

Ms. Leonard was crowned Miss Avalon Achievement 2010 which came with a $100 prize. She also received the Healthy Living Award trophy and received the Asset to the Community Award, which comes with a $15,000 scholarship.

"It really still hasn't hit me to be honest," said Ms. Leonard, days after the win. "It is a huge achievement. I am really proud of myself. It definitely still hasn't hit me that I am the title holder. Once I start going around and get pictures taken at appearances with my sash and crown it should sink in a little more."

This year was Ms. Leonard's second time participating in the competition. She said she first heard about the event through a story in The Charter the previous year, and it piqued her interest.

"I thought it was pretty interesting so I checked out their website and it seemed pretty cool. I entered the competition last year and got third place. I was pretty surprised. I didn't expect to do all that well, so I figured I was even more involved throughout this past year and got into it again," she said.

Ms. Leonard does a lot of volunteering in Placentia and is very involved in activities at her school and enjoys sports as well.

"I am heavily involved with the school and with the Placentia Food Bank. This is my third year with them. I am with pretty much every organization the school has. I am student council president and I am in four out of six of the female sports teams. I am pretty involved," she said.

And, she noted, while the Avalon Achievement competition looks like a typical beauty pageant, it isn't.

"It's a competition in the pageant style. You get a sash and crown as recognition. We had to do an application at home, which was scored, and when we got there we had to do an academic test, which was a huge chunk of your scoring, and a fitness test, and then we had to do a talent portion, and an interview with three judges and a speech on stage," she explained.

"There was a lot to it. I was more nervous with my talent than my speech."

Ms. Leonard performed a monologue from the play she acted in for the high school drama program, and placed in the top three for talent as well.

But, she said, having competed last year, she had some idea what to expect this year.

"It helped a lot. I was a lot less nervous than I was last year," she said.

Her fellow Laval student Shane Leonard was also a big winner for the evening, winning the Mister Avalon Achievement 2010 title. For that he received a $100 prize. He also was one of the top scorers in the competition, placing third and was one of the Region's Choice award winners, with a $40 prize.

Lakita Butterworth of St. John's won the Miss Pre-Teen Avalon Achievement 2010 title.

Stephanie Warren of Chapel Arm received $50 for winning the Truly Talented Teen Award. The Academic Excellence Award with a $1000 scholarship went to Kora Leigh Russell of Bay Robert's, who also won the Competitive Spirit Award and $200. Shealyn Jerrett of Cavendish was the winner of the Effective Communicator Award and $300.

Other Region's Choice Awards went to Shealyn Jerrett of Cavendish and Heather Sheppard of Whitbourne. Cady Cumby won the Pre-Teen Potential Award and Arielle Somerton won the Pre-Teen Friendship Award. Top scorers included fourth runner up Natasha Warren of Chapel Arm, third runner up Shane Regular of Placentia, second runner up Kora Leigh Russell of Bay Robert's and first place went to Shealyn Jerrett of Cavendish.

The Avalon Achievement Competition was founded to encourage the region's youth to strive for excellence, in the areas of self improvement, through post-secondary education, life experiences, opportunities and challenges and community action, through volunteerism, charitable connection, and activism at all levels, said Tonya Somerton, executive director of Avalon Achievement.

"We believe that involvement in volunteer services and community involvement should be both encouraged and rewarded. We also believe that in order to become a strong leader, a regional representative must be committed to themselves as a strong, diversely experienced individual. A regional representative must challenge themselves academically, they must practice and promote healthy living, and they must radiate confidence, and a positive total self-image," said Ms. Somerton. "They must also possess a strong desire to set a good example for others, and in the spirit of competition, they must be gracious."

They provide a forum, they say, to youth aged 8-17 to challenge themselves to achieve excellence in all life experiences and to reward them for their efforts.

The winners of the Avalon Achievement Competition are regional public representatives and voices for young people, and so they travel throughout the Avalon region and the province participating in various festivals, events, charitable fundraisers and speaking engagements.

Miss Avalon Achievement also has the opportunity to represent the region at the Provincial Scholarship Competition - Miss Teen Achievement Newfoundland and Labrador.

Ms. Leonard is up for the challenge, and in fact, is quite looking forward to the coming year.

"I will be attending volunteerism awards and things like that. If there is anything going on with the food bank, I will be able to go as a representative, or the Juvenile Diabetes Walk, which I was planning on participating in, I can go as a representative now. There are all kinds of celebrations, like the Blueberry Festival in Brigus and other pageants like Miss Newfoundland and Labrador and others, I can be a special guest.

"It will be a very hectic summer. I was planning on getting a job this summer but I don't know if anyone will be able to accommodate me now," she laughed.

Ms. Leonard was sure to thank people who helped her in this endeavor.

"I want to say a huge thank you to everyone who supported me. We had an online voting portion to this and I did very well. There was so much support from the community, which I really appreciated. And then I definitely want to thank Pam Constantine, the principal at Laval," she said. "And I definitely want to say to any young (people) in the region, they should definitely get involved. It's not as scary or as big a deal as you think it is and it's a great way not only to be recognized for what you do but also helps to go around and see what other people are doing and find more things you can get involved in," stated Ms. Leonard. "I want to continue being involved in my community."

She plans to attend Memorial University in the fall to study commerce. She will hold the Miss Avalon Achievement title for one year.

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