I am not better than Cheryl

The new Miss TT Universe Magdalene Walcott denied being the better choice over beauty queen Cheryl Ankrah who lost the chance to represent Trinidad and Tobago at the Miss Universe 2005 pageant in Thailand on May 31. “Everyone has his or her strengths and weaknesses, my weakness may be her strength and vice versa and we all have to work on our weaknesses. Maybe Cheryl didn’t think that she would need to work really hard in preparation, but she’s a great young lady with whom I’ve met and interacted,” Walcott told Sunday Newsday.

The Tunapuna beauty was selected to represent TT at a mini pageant held at Trotters last week Monday following a month-long battle between Peter Elias and Associates and Ankrah over Ankrah’s physical readiness for the pageant. Walcott, 22, represented TT at the Miss World beauty pageant in 2003 and placed among the top 20 delegates. Thrust into the spotlight again, she expressed her willingness to always represent her country whenever called upon. “It is always a privilege to represent Trinidad and Tobago. I feel proud that the judges thought that I was most prepared... Peter always likes to know that he has girls he can call upon, so I looked forward to participating in other pageants but this came sooner than I expected.”

Walcott said she endeavoured to “keep a low profile” following her last pageant, and get back into a work and study mode. “And that was one of my concerns, how my job would be affected if I win, but Sagicor has been very supportive. They’ve given me both April and May months off to prepare for the pageant.” Walcott recently landed a new job at Sagicor General. She possesses qualifications in ACCA and is currently pursuing a diploma in General Management at Roytec. She said her one challenge in the run-up to the pageant is preparing mentally. Neverthe-less, she feels confident that she can bring home the Miss Universe title. “Yes, I honestly believe I have that chance. I’ve been getting great response. People believe I can actually bring home the crown. It’s scary because of the sacrifice. I think I have a couple mental blocks. I can go and do it for my country but I need to get that personal drive and view it as something I want,” Walcott said. “Training is going to be intense, everything is compact. I was told that today is my only and last day off. But I’ve always been at the gym. Preparation now is much of what I already know so it’s more fine tuning techniques.”

Walcott lost her father to leukaemia when she was nine years of age and misses the connection she once shared with him. She enjoyed the times when friends and neighbours converged at their then St Joseph home for parang, as her father was once a member of a parang group. His influence is still present, as Walcott has been a member of the Los Alumnos de San Juan parang group for several years. Her childhood dream was to become a nurse because of a desire to help people. Now, she wants to focus on the youth and contribute to the education system in Trinidad and Tobago. “I believe that our education system in Trinidad should put more emphasis on curricular activities because I’ve seen the impact it had on me at El Dorado Secondary and San Juan Comprehensive where I was active in netball, volleyball and the school choir.

Activities outside of the normal academics such as singing and dancing should be incorporated so the youth could be constructively occupied and explore their many talents.” Her motto in life; to lead by example. “You know the old saying ‘do unto others as you would like them to do unto you?’ I try to follow that. In general, I attack life with enthusiasm. I give everything a chance, I don’t judge it until I try it and in that way I get to explore things and I try to take the positive out of each experience.”