Engineering Coed Alexis Dawn Masangkay Wins Miss Silliman 2011!!

Alexis Dawn Masangkay, the 65th Miss Silliman University!

Adventures of a Beauty Queen went on a whirlwind overnight trip to Dumaguete to  judge at the 65th Miss Silliman beauty pageant! I also had the honor of being chairman of the board of judges which included Brooke Castillo (the first ever lady pilot of Cebu Pac) and Mayor Hagedorn of Palawan who was so charming and generous with his kind words. He kept telling everyone to vote for Palawan’s Underground River which you can do if you click on this link – New 7 Wonders.

blogging beauty queen with Mayor Hagedorn of Palawan

………but, I digress……… back to the Miss Silliman University beauty pageant… eleven beautiful students from the different colleges of Silliman University competed for the Miss Silliman 2011 title. The major major prize was a one year scholarship – wheeeee!

After a 4-hour pageant in a gym that was packed to the rafters with screaming college students, the judges decided that Alexis Dawn Masangkay from the college of Engineering was the girl who could best wear the sash of Miss Silliman University which, according to school authorities, is the longest-running beauty pageant in Asia. Alexis stole the thunder from the High School Department whose candidates have held the scepter for two years running.

I had the opportunity to chat with Alexis Dawn Masangkay during the one-to-one interview the judges had with all the contestants and I learned that this Filipina beauty is a 4th year Computer Engineering student and one of the brightest in her class. Aside from being brainy, this girl is as perky as a cup of coffee!

Miss Silliman 2001 Alexis Dawn Masangkay

Alexis Dawn Masangkay is a Ballroom Dance champion!

The one passion that this petite Filipina beauty has is DANCE! Now, you might be thinking, what’s so cool about that? Filipinos love to dance, like…  ALL of them! Well, the cool thing about Alexis Dawn Masangkay is that she can do Street Dance and Ballroom Dancing and look good either way. In fact she competes in both dance disciplines! Most dancers can only do one or the other, you know…

The pageant rocked btw. I was duly impressed. I’ve judged lots of beauty pageants all over the country from the time I won my first one in 1981 (Miss Young Philippines) but there were certain elements in this pageant that I have never seen before. Like the Picture Analysis where the candidate is shown a picture on a giant screen and then she analyses it and tells the audience what it means to her.

Then there’s the Global Professional segment where the contestants all wear career outfits according to their college course (like the Nursing student wore a haute-couture type of nurse’s outfit). Then while strutting their stuff, a video would play showing them explaining their career outfits.

But enough of those details, let’s talk about the student who won the Miss Silliman title… Alexis Dawn Masangkay!

The moment of truth right before Alexis Masangkay was announced the winner... Nursing took 2nd place.

When Alexis was declared the winner, she cried buckets of tears – I don’t think she expected to win – she was up against some beautiful and intelligent girls but Alexis outdid them with her answers during the Picture Analysis and the Q&A Portions. She is truly a great communicator – she even won Best Speaker, a special award given to the Miss Silliman contestant who has the gift of gab.

I did scold her when I went up on stage to award her – I told her, “Alexis, don’t cry, you have to look beautiful with all of

Big hug for the new Miss Silliman winner!

Dumaguete’s paparazzi here right now!” But she kept crying and laughing and crying and laughing. It was her moment and I wasn’t going to get in the way of it! So after I put her sash on her and gave her her flowers, I slowly walked off the stage and fondly remembered my own moment when I too cried buckets of happy tears on a bright stage with paparazzi crawling all over the place…

So, that ends my Miss Silliman University adventure in Dumaguete, many many thanks to Greg Morales for inviting me and to Miss Von Cathleen Panot, lead organizer of the pageant – you impressed me with your acute balance on stage, ang galing mo Von! Thanks as well to South Sea Resort for the lovely accommodations, to KRI – the fusion restaurant that kept us happy with plates and plates of sumptuous dishes, also to Bethel Guest House where we had lunch, and the Silliman Cafeteria that prepared breakfast for us, thanks too to Fob and to the students who drove us around in your own cars and got me coffee all the time – you all rock!

Photos by Greg Morales except for the one of me with Mayor Hagedorn

Silliman Queen Alexis Dawn MAsangkay enjoying her new subjects...

College of Engineering, 4th year computer eng student won 65th miss silliman u title the longest running pageant in Asia.