Our People: Young Achievers
Pam Cummings
Miss Five Crowns New Zealand is a new beauty performance platform, which has been formulated over the last 18 months.
Getting it to fruition was no mean feat.
Its creation was aimed to provide tools and skills to encourage and guide young women to empower themselves while gaining greater confidence and self-esteem.
Our purpose is to bring together young women from towns and cities across New Zealand to support and encourage each other and share self-love and internal beauty for a greater future.
What Miss Five Crowns young women learn through their journey will create a great story of acceptance, courage and authenticity which will be passed on externally, to brighten the life cycle for others.
Supporting Charity
Every child has a dream and Miss Five Crowns New Zealand decided to support ‘Variety – the Children’s Charity’ because we were all children once reaching for those dreams.
I believe that sometimes we can lose sight of those dreams and growing up does not mean we must do the hard yards alone.
Miss Five Crowns is a progamme that brings the hardness together to lighten the personal load of each young women who enters the platform.
Pageant Night is where she gets to shine although that’s only the beginning.
She will continue to develop with personal growth and work towards becoming an ambassador for the future and the international stage.
Pam Cummings is a Director of Miss Five Crowns New Zealand and a member of the Panel of Judges of the Indian Newslink Indian Sports Awards. The ensuing pages contain her report of the five winners at the Five Crowns Pageant held on Saturday, November 5, 2016 at Dorothy Winstone Centre, Auckland Girls Grammar School.
Pictures of all Winners of Miss Five Crowns NZ 2016 were by SmartShots NZ Photography
First Young Achiever of the Year
Lauren Watkins
Miss Five Crowns NZ 2016 Regional Winner (Christchurch)
Lauren is 19 years old and loves animals! This passion was made clear to her as she grew up in a small north Canterbury village surrounded by animals.
She attended a primary school with only 80 students. She was in for a shock when she started high school at Rangiora High, home to over 1500 students.
Pursuing Animal Welfare
In 2015, Lauren graduated from Design & Arts College with a certificate of Foundation. She is currently studying animal care and will move towards a degree in ‘Animal Welfare, Investigations and K-9 Behaviour.’
Lauren would love to train police dogs or work with dogs within the International Airports of New Zealand.
She also loves sports and has been playing football since she was six years old. How proud must she be, to have been the first female to referee the ‘Reta Fitzpatrick Cup!’
Lauren represents everything Kiwi and is never afraid to go for gold.
When she is not rearing calves, she will be in the paddock practicing her catwalk wearing gumboots!
Second Young Achiever of the Year
Brooke Teura
Miss Five Crowns NZ 2016 Regional Winner (Auckland South)
Nineteen-year-old Brooke Teura is of New Zealand and Cook Island decent.
Attending two high schools (Marcellin College and Aorere College), she passed all three NCEA levels and is now a part-time student studying Small Business Management
“My mother has done an amazing job raising me on her own. She has been my Number One supporter since day dot! I plan travelling around the world for a few years, and hopefully establish a business with her as I would love to be self-employed. With my newly-won title, I hope to help as many needy people as I can, to find solutions to problems and make a change in whatever way I can for New Zealand,” she said.
Passion for wellness
Brooke is motivated and has an open, kind heart. She has a real passion for the health and well-being of people. She realised how good it feels to be fit and healthy when she joined a local gym.
“I feel these these two passions go well together because if you have a healthy mind set and a healthy body, you will live a happy and cheerful life,” she said.
Third Young Achiever of the Year
Johannah Prasad
Miss Five Crowns New Zealand 2016 Supreme Winner (Masterton)
Homework and heels are not a popular combination, but it is a daily routine for Johannah Prasad.
Be it Netball mid-court, front of the classroom or centre stage, Johannah has done it all! The 23-year-old primary teacher not only won one of the Five Regional Crowns, but also qualified for the overall Supreme Winner of the first ever Miss Five Crowns New Zealand on November 5, 2016.
Johannah was born in Dunedin and is currently living and teaching at Lakeview School in Masterton. She has a Bachelor of Education degree in Primary Teaching with a desire to educate and inspire young children. She wishes them to know who they are and what they can achieve when equipped with the right skills, knowledge, attitude and character to take them places.
Noble Profession
She pushes herself to be a teacher that children can talk to and look up to.
“I see it as a real honour and privilege to be a lead role in a child’s life at such a pivotal age where children are learning so much that will set them up for life. I count this as an incredible privilege to be on such an empowering journey with a purpose close to my heart. I am honoured to work alongside Variety-The Children’s Charity. It combines all the things I love while discovering what true beauty looks like for both myself and others,” she said.
Johannah raised a significant amount for Variety New Zealand and will sponsor a child for two years, with opportunities to increase her donations along the way.
When not in the classroom or practicing her catwalk, she is out traveling around the countryside with her friends, playing sport, dancing, singing, coaching, socialising, shopping or leading children’s productions.
Fourth Young Achiever of the Year
Jade Norman
Miss Five Crowns NZ 2016 Regional Winner (Auckland West)
Jade Norman is 24 years old, an aspiring actress and an experienced dressage rider with her own horses.
She is an only child who is thankful to her supportive family who always encourages her. Not only she is now a beauty queen with her own crown and sash but also holds many other titles.
Winning Rider
Horse riding is another passion and Jade has won top five at Showing Nationals, Regional Young Rider Dressage Champion and Senior West Auckland Rider in West Auckland District Pony Club.
Always working hard to better herself and reach her goals, she now sponsors two children through Variety – ‘The Children’s Charity and has helped raise funds.
“I would like to inspire and encourage others to embrace who they are for their uniqueness and individuality. Because I know that once I did that and so many doors and opportunities opened. I would like to continue charity work,” she said.
When Jade is on her horses or practicing her catwalk, she is on sets as an extra, and features in New Zealand television shows.
Fifth Young Achiever of the Year
Vandhana Vikash
Miss Five Crowns NZ 2016 Regional Winner (Auckland Central)
Vandhana is 24 years old and works as a Programme Analyst at 2degrees Mobile Limited. A graduate (Bachelor degree) in IT with Management Major, she plans to pursue her postgraduate (Masters) degree in ICT next year.
Vandhana set a goal to raise money for Variety – The Children’s Charity in the hope of being paired with a child on the waiting list of their ‘Kiwi Kid Sponsorship Programme.’
Vandhana has now achieved this goal and sponsors a child with necessities that other children take for granted.
“In so many years of education, most people are not taught to love themselves and why it is so important to do so. I want to empower them to achieve their potential and to find confidence in their own skin,” she said.
Vandhana is not a novice to the stage. She participated in Miss Indianz held on September 17, 2016 where she received the ‘Miss Potential Model’ title for 2016.
