The newly-crowned Miss Teen Yorkton World will be one of nine contestants representing Saskatchewan at the Miss Teen Canada World pageant in Toronto this July.
Jennifer Richards, 19, competed at the provincial Teen World pageant in Saskatoon on April 10 and was chosen as a finalist from among 19 entrants.
It was Richards' first pageant, and a definite learning experience.
"A lot of the girls there were in the same boat as me," she says. "On the first day of the weekend, they taught us how to sit and walk and talk."
Richards is a first-year student in the Heavy Duty Mechanic program at Parkland College. It's an unusual choice of profession for a beauty pageant contestant, she acknowledges, but it was part of what brought her to the stage in Saskatoon.
"Every girl had something quite unique about them. That was my big thing."
Besides the usual swimsuit and evening gown competitions, contestants were judged on their presentation of a platform to the audience: a speech about the things they are passionate about.
"I talked about inspiring young females to kind of step out of society's stereotypical, set ideas of what a female should be, and be themselves," she says.
The Miss Teen Canada World pageant caught Richards' eye when she read about it online several months ago.
"Their big thing is about being your own kind of beautiful. It's not just a traditional beauty pageant - it looked like it would be very much about being a well-rounded person. So I thought, what the heck. If anybody can do it, I can."
The finalist is excited to be moving on to the national competition in Toronto on July 9 through 17.
"It's going to open a lot of doors, for sure."
In the next few months, Richards is required to make three appearances with her crown for Free the Children, the pageant's charity of choice.
"I plan to do a lot more than that and just get involved in my community," she says.
Ivan Richards, Jennifer's father, says her parents couldn't be more proud.
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