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Saint Leo students plan to spin, strut and fight poverty

A "Mr. and Miss Caribbean" pageant will raise money to help give Haitian children access to computers and a library.

By BREANNE GILPATRICK
Published April 22, 2005

ST. LEO - Orphans in one of the world's poorest countries will receive some help from Saint Leo University pageant contestants tonight as the students compete for the "Mr. and Miss Caribbean" crowns.

The students will don their formal wear and demonstrate their cultural knowledge in the Mr. and Miss Caribbean pageant to help raise money to create a computer center and library for the Marie Porte du Ciel orphanage in Cap-Hatien, Haiti.

The computer center is one of the short-term projects for the Haitian Education Project, the nonprofit organization at Saint Leo hosting the pageant, said Laude Saint-Preux, president and director of the organization and a native of Haiti. In the future, the organization also would like to build a community center in Cap-Hatien, Haiti's second-largest city.

"A computer is something that is becoming like the telephone" said Laude Saint-Preux, 33, a 2002 graduate of Saint Leo. "People need to know how to use them, and these kids are falling behind."

Saint Leo sophomore and pageant coordinator Enda Lacan, 20, said she had the idea to hold the pageant based on her experience coordinating summer camp pageants at home in the Virgin Islands.

"We needed to raise at least $10,000, and the pageant would raise $2,000 for us," she said. "It was originally Mr. and Miss Haiti, but we opened up to the other Caribbean Islands."

Fourteen students representing 11 countries - including Jamaica, the Virgin Islands, Antigua, the Bahamas and Haiti _ will compete for the two crowns, Lacan said.

The Haitian Education Project will use the proceeds to send the computers, food, clothes and "thousands" of books donated by people at Saint Leo and in the Tampa Bay area to Marie Porte du Ciel.

"It would take between $3,000 and $5,000 (to send everything)," Saint-Preux said. "But if we get $3,000 we'll try to manage."

Life is difficult for children in Haiti, Saint-Preux said. The Caribbean nation is the least developed country in the Western Hemisphere. It has witnessed civil strife, with President Jean-Bertrand Aristide forced to flee in February 2004 as rebels threatened to attack the capital.

"A few years ago and even last year, Haiti was in the news a lot," Saint-Preux said. "Now Haiti isn't in the news as often, but the situation is still very bad."

Saint Leo junior Joe Stubbs, a pageant contestant representing the Bahamas, said the pageant also should help people learn about the different countries competing. Each contestant must make a cultural presentation in place of the talent competition.

"I don't even know the cultures of each of the countries," he said. "I hope people get a better understanding of a country they aren't familiar with."

WHAT: Mr. and Miss Caribbean Pageant.

WHERE: Saint Leo University's Bowman Activities Center, off State Road 52.

WHEN: 8 tonight, doors open at 7 p.m.

HOW MUCH: $5 in advance, $7 at the door. Tickets are available in advance on the Saint Leo University campus at Port-Au-Prince Restaurant, 2202 E 7th Ave., Ybor City.

Ticket also grants admission to pageant "after party" at 11 p.m. to 3 a.m. at Marmion Dining Hall. After party tickets may be purchased separately for $3.

[Last modified April 22, 2005, 00:44:19]