Miss Bogota 2013

15-Dec-2013

  After a delay due to the winter storm on Saturday the title of Miss Bogota for 2013 was awarded at the Bogota Recreation Center on Sunday night. The inauguration pageant is the idea of the Bogota Community Alliance in conjunction with the Bogota Recreational Center.  The hope of the BCA  is to have this as annual event open to all school age girls living in the Borough of Bogota. The BCA  was formed to help highlight the diversity of the background of the residents of Bogota and bring them together as a whole community. The Miss Bogota Pageant  has been the BCA biggest event to date.
   The Pageant was divided into three different categories.  There was a Little Miss Bogota which included students from 5 to 10 years old. The Miss Teen Bogota was for students aged 11- 14 years old, while the Miss Bogota category was for students 15-18 years old. Any Female resident, and Student attending Steen, Bixby, St. Joseph's and the Bogota Junior & Senior High School were eligible to participate. This first pageant took place over a number of months with different event held to show how  the Candidates could perform in a variety skills they may have to use while growing up. There was a couple of Pancake Breakfasts  where the Candidates had  to perform the duties of hostess, and servers to the guest. Another event was a lesson on etiquette, and hosting formal occasions. A talent show was also held in the High School Auditorium to display the creativity of the Candidates. Unfortunately the length of the pageant caused a large number of Candidate to remove themselves of competing. In some cases the Candidate could not attend all of the events, other had to withdraw because of family matters, while other just decided the pageant was not for them.  Out of the 26 Young Ladies who originally signed up only 5 remained.  These five showed their skills one more time on the finally night.
  The pageant began with the Candidates dressed in traditional costumes to reflex their heritage. The three Little Miss Bogota Candidate, Sofia Amaro, Crystal Buelvas, & Mariapaula Gargiulo,  all showed off their Colombian background with their dress. The Miss Teen Bogota Candidate,  Angelina Garcia, was in a tradition dress from the Peruvian Highland.  The Miss Bogota Candidate Meghan Pulido wore a dress based on her Filipino ancestry.  The next part of the contest the candidate change into evening wear and answered questions from Master of Ceremony  Martin Nunez- Bonilla.  Question were picked at random and ranged from " What you do if you were given one Million Dollars?" asked of Miss Buelvas who answered " Try and help the poor" to Ms. Amaro question of " What is a Friend ?" Her  answer was  : "A friend is someone that will help and defend you no matter what." And " Why did you want to compete in a beauty pageant?" which Ms. Gargiulo answered " To make new Friends."
  After the intermission  all the Candidates return to the Stage. First the Miss Congeniality honour was given to Mariapaula Gargiulo, she had been the unanimous choice of the other Candidates.  A story was told the at the Talent Show Ms. Gargiulo was so nervous almost to the point of tears before the show. However just before the show started she gather all the Candidates together and encouraged them  Go and do the show.
  Mayor Tito Jackson the came up to award Meghan Pulido her crown as Miss Bogota. Angelina Garcia was awarded the Title of Miss Teen Bogota. Then  it was announced that Mariapaula Gargiulo had won the title of Little Miss Bogota with Crystal Buelvas, & Sofia Amaro being name First & Second runners up.  The Three winning Young Ladies each received their crowns, sash, trophy and flowers for their achievement.  The three Miss Bogota also were award $700 each in prize money to go to their further education.  The prize money came from local business and from the admission fees of some of the events.
  Afterward BCA President Anthony Stevens spoke of how proud the Candidate who were able to compete for the whole pageant, and wish more of the Young Ladies could have made it to the final event. He did talk about what lessons they need to learn about making the pageant better next year, and would like to see this become a annual event for Bogota.

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  The Five Candidate in traditional dress, Miss Bogota Candidate Meghan Pulido(L) in Filipino dress. Miss Teen Bogota Candidate,  Angelina Garcia, in a traditional Peruvian dress.  Little Miss Bogota Candidate,Mariapaula Gargiulo,Crystal Buelvas, & Sofia Amaro,  all showed off their Colombian background with their dress. 

 Little Miss Bogota Candidate,Mariapaula Gargiulo (L) ,Crystal Buelvas,
 & Sofia Amaro in their Evening Gowns

Miss Teen Bogota Candidate,  Angelina Garcia, in her Evening Gown.

Miss Bogota Candidate Meghan Pulido in her Evening Gown

 Mariapaula Gargiulo being awarded the title of Miss Congeniality

Mayor Tito Jackson  presenting Miss Bogota 2013 Meghan Pulido 

Little Miss Bogota Mariapaula Gargiulo (L) Miss Bogota  Meghan Pulido,
and Miss Teen Bogota Angelina Garcia, 

Miss Bogota  Meghan Pulido (L) , Little Miss Bogota Mariapaula Gargiulo
and Miss Teen Bogota Angelina Garcia, 

 Miss Bogota 2013 Meghan Pulido