Fifteen-year-old Joni C. Castro has been proclaimed the 2011 Liberation Day Queen in a brief ceremony at the Mayor\u2019s Office conference room yesterday.<\/p>\n
Castro won the competition for the most number of raffle tickets sold for the annual Liberation festivities. She sold over $6,250 worth of tickets.<\/p>\n
The ninth grader at Saipan Southern High School expressed surprise and happiness after hearing her name called out as the new Liberation Day Queen.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy. I didn\u2019t think I could make it this far, to this position. I especially want to thank my mom, Frances Mu\u00f1a. She did so much and she worked so hard,\u201d she told Saipan Tribune.<\/p>\n
Castro disclosed that she and her mother sold tickets mostly to family members and friends. \u201cI also sold my tickets at the information booth at the carnival grounds almost every night.\u201d<\/p>\n
Castro, whose pageant experience includes joining Little Miss CNMI where she won Best in Sportswear, said she looks forward to gaining more during her reign.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would love to help out in the community. I\u2019m excited about the possibility of traveling to Japan with the mayor, just like when I did as part of the My WAVE program,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Castro hopes to promote the CNMI during the likely visit as well as inspire the young members of the community.<\/p>\n
When asked how she would celebrate her victory, Castro replied, \u201cI really don\u2019t know. Right now, I\u2019m just so happy.\u201d<\/p>\n
Castro\u2019s mom became teary eyed when her daughter was announced the winner. \u201cAll our hard work paid off. I\u2019m just feeling very proud of my daughter.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nizelynn T. Masayos, who sold about $3,100 worth of tickets, is this year\u2019s Royal Princess. Mariah I. Ada, meanwhile, is the first runner up after selling tickets worth $2,500. All candidates were given plaques.<\/p>\n
Masayos, 17, said being the Royal Princess feels \u201cvery exciting and great.\u201d \u201cI hope to inspire the community regardless what place I\u2019m in. I want to encourage others, especially those who are my age.\u201d<\/p>\n
For her part, 18-year-old Ada said, \u201cIt doesn\u2019t really matter if I didn\u2019t win. I still feel like a winner.\u201d<\/p>\n
Liberation Queen Committee chair Vinycia Seman said the three candidates sold a total of $11,850 worth of tickets. Each candidate will get a 10 to 15 percent share in their ticket sales.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt turned out to be a successful event. These girls are not only beautiful but also intelligent. I\u2019m very proud to have them in the competition,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
2011 Liberation Day chair Jonas Barcinas extended his appreciation to all the families, particularly the parents, of the three candidates. <\/p>\n
\u201cThey sacrificed their time, they showed their commitment and did a lot of hard work,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Barcinas encouraged the candidates to sell the remaining tickets until coronation night on Saturday. Many exciting prizes, cash and in-kind, will be given away for the raffle, he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m inviting the community to come out and celebrate with us this Liberation Day. Come and enjoy the festival grounds with your family and friends,\u201d added Barcinas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Fifteen-year-old Joni C. Castro has been proclaimed the 2011 Liberation Day Queen in a brief ceremony at the Mayor\u2019s Office conference room yesterday.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-153131","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-local-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153131","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=153131"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/153131\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=153131"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=153131"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.saipantribune.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=153131"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}