| Miss Greek Independence By Stella Aronis |
On Sunday March 23rd, the annual Miss Greek
Independence pageant was held at the Stathkion Center
in Astoria at 3:30. A crowd of family and friends gathered
to watch and cheer on the sixteen beautiful girls who were
competing for the coveted title of Miss Elliniki Anexartesia.
Each of the sixteen girls was representing various parts
of Greece. As I looked around when each girl introduced
herself, you can easily spot out the families as they
watched with pride their beautiful daughter stand on
stage.
After the introduction the girls come on stage with their
business attire ready to answer questions based on
Greek History and religion. If the contestants were
nervous, they didn't really let on, they each answered to
the best of their ability and were awarded their points
accordingly. After all sixteen girls answered, they were
each asked to come out again one by one to answer the
opinion question. The members of the Cultural committee
(I’m a little bias because my father is one of the members)
did a fantastic job on selecting the three questions which
were about how the girls felt about the fires in Greece this
past summer, how they feel about being Greek and lastly
how would the girls help improve the youth of the Greek
community. Again each of the contestants did their best
to answer. The opinions question is a bit harder, mainly
because it cannot be rehearsed like the history and
religion part of the pagent. The opinion answer can either
make or break the girls, it is where it separates them from
the rest.
Last, the girls change into their formal wear. They all
looked stunning. If I was judge I would have had a hard
time choosing. I feel my opinion would have been a little
bias considering we had two of our own girls from
Erikoussa running this year. I would like to congratulate
Joanna Vlahopoulos Miss Paxi 2008 and Marilena
Katechis Miss Erikoussa 2008!!!!!! Our girls made us
proud!
Independence pageant was held at the Stathkion Center
in Astoria at 3:30. A crowd of family and friends gathered
to watch and cheer on the sixteen beautiful girls who were
competing for the coveted title of Miss Elliniki Anexartesia.
Each of the sixteen girls was representing various parts
of Greece. As I looked around when each girl introduced
herself, you can easily spot out the families as they
watched with pride their beautiful daughter stand on
stage.
After the introduction the girls come on stage with their
business attire ready to answer questions based on
Greek History and religion. If the contestants were
nervous, they didn't really let on, they each answered to
the best of their ability and were awarded their points
accordingly. After all sixteen girls answered, they were
each asked to come out again one by one to answer the
opinion question. The members of the Cultural committee
(I’m a little bias because my father is one of the members)
did a fantastic job on selecting the three questions which
were about how the girls felt about the fires in Greece this
past summer, how they feel about being Greek and lastly
how would the girls help improve the youth of the Greek
community. Again each of the contestants did their best
to answer. The opinions question is a bit harder, mainly
because it cannot be rehearsed like the history and
religion part of the pagent. The opinion answer can either
make or break the girls, it is where it separates them from
the rest.
Last, the girls change into their formal wear. They all
looked stunning. If I was judge I would have had a hard
time choosing. I feel my opinion would have been a little
bias considering we had two of our own girls from
Erikoussa running this year. I would like to congratulate
Joanna Vlahopoulos Miss Paxi 2008 and Marilena
Katechis Miss Erikoussa 2008!!!!!! Our girls made us
proud!
The results are as follows:
Miss Greek Independence: Chrisanthi Karachalios
1st runner up:Katerina Dimitratos
2nd runner up: Anthoula Zoumboulias
Miss Erikoussa: Marilena Katechis
Miss Paxoi: joanna Vlahopoulos
Miss Tripoli: Sofia Spetzos
Miss Sparta: Anna Dritsas
Miss Ilias: Angela Apostolopoulos
Miss Zakinthos: Nicole Kalofonos
Miss Thraki: Athanasia Seretoudias
Miss Sparti: Kristine Polios
Miss Karpenisi: Eleni Kolokithas
Miss Mytilini: Athina Pantahos
Miss Kassos: Athina Sevastos
Miss Stavroula Katsifas
Miss Kefalonia: Maria Zacharatos
Beside the first the ladies the rest are not in any particular
order. At the end of the pageant everybody was invited
down stairs for the reception.
My father did a great job preparing the spread, which was
donated by his restaurant ASTRO.
Coming from experience in doing the pageant myself, I
have so much respect and appreciation for the girls that
do it. It is not as easy as it looks. It takes a lot of
dedication, commitment, confidence, and poise to do
something like this. And so, in ending this report I would
again like to congratulate all sixteen girls on a job well
done!!!!
For more photos of the pageant click here