2014 Piikani Schools Princess Pageant

2014 Piikani Princesses Kylee, Marissa, and Latoya

Mark Anderson, Piikani Schools

Our Piikani Schools Princess Pageant this year was a great success, thanks to all the girls and their families who participated. We began back in March with our fundraising and our bi-weekly Enrichment Activities designed to help coach the girls on their pageant skills, build friendship and camaraderie amongst the contestants, and in some cases, just have fun. We hosted talent nights, dance workshops, public speaking exercises, and rites of passage meetings with a Piikani Elder. There was also a cooking night where we all got together in the school kitchen and made a spaghetti supper, then afterwards sat down and ate it; and a week before the pageant itself the contestants were treated to a day at the salon to have their hair and nails done.

During this pre-pageant time the girls earned 40% of their overall scores in three categories. First is Fundraising – worth 10%, the girls are ranked according to how much they are able to contribute to the pageant budget through various fundraisers that we hold. Next was a report also worth 10% that was filled out by each contestant’s teacher ranking them in three sub-categories: Attitude, Attendance, and Academics. Finally was the personal interview with the Pageant Committee worth 20%; during which each girl was asked four questions. The first three questions are the same for every girl and are given to all the contestants in the weeks prior to the interview. The fourth question is personalized for each girl and called the ‘mystery question’ because it isn’t given in advance and must be answered impromptu. We design each mystery question to be challenging and it's usually based on their Teacher Report.

Then finally, on Friday, May 9th at 3:00pm we held the pageant in our Elementary School gymnasium. Here the girls competed in three more categories to earn the remaining 60% of their overall scores. First came the individual speeches, worth 25%; they were followed up by the girls pairing off and performing a traditional dance for the judges worth another 20%, and then finally was the talent portion of the contest worth the remaining 15%. We had several singers this year, some beaders, an artist, a baker, and one girl who skipped rope.

In the end we awarded three crowns to three very talented girls.

In the Napi’s Playground Elementary Jr. Princess Category our winner was six-year-old Kylee North Peigan and our runner up was Nicole Warrior-Dubois.

In the Napi’s Playground Elementary Sr. Princess Category our winner was ten-year-old Marissa Small Legs and our runner up was Gracelyn Bad Eagle.

In the Piikani Nation Secondary School Princess category our winner was twelve-year-old Latoya Crow Eagle and our runner up was Alina Crow.

It is both an honor and a commitment to serve as Princess. These girls will spend the next year representing our schools at powwows, fundraisers, and other community events. Princesses have an honored place in the grand entries of these powwows and events so there is a great deal of prestige associated with the crown in addition to the obligations and duties that they each are expected to carry out. As a school we also try to treat our royalty well; each time there is a fundraiser held such as a bake sale, a hot dog sale, a chinese food sale, etc. we always treat the Princesses to some freebies as a thank you for representing us. Congratulations go out to our three winners and to all our contestants who performed so well.