Beauty Queen Dawn wants to make a difference

“If you have to stay up all night, you’re gonna stay up all night and study your (dance) moves,” were the stern words of advice coming from a friend of 21-year-old Dawn Alves winner of Miss City of San Fernando 2003, a few nights before the competition. Dawn was somewhat playing the role of Gracie Lou Freebush (Sandra Bullock) in the movie Miss Congeniality. She went into the pageant without a talent. She panicked. It was only when she was selected as a successful candidate it occurred to her that she needed one. “I was very nervous about that,” Dawn told People. “I don’t sing, I don’t dance and I don’t play any instrument.” However, all was not lost. Since Save the Last Dance was her favourite movie, she thought: why not purchase the movie and learn the dance steps. Dawn didn’t think twice about acting upon her notion.

“I looked at the movie over and over until it (CD) got scratched,” she said. Dawn perfected that dance routine so well that she stunned everyone. The tape — Deron’s Dance Grooves — which she borrowed from a friend helped to fine tune the finishing act. It took her three weeks to learn a three-minute dance routine that was supposed to stupefy her audience and ultimately the judges. It did! All the steps and moves were learned in the comfort of her bedroom for a public performance, something she had sworn she would never do. She said: “I’m the person standing in the corner at a party. In the bedroom yeah, you’ll catch me singing and maybe moving then, but when I go out in public...hmmm!” But the show wasn’t all about talent. All eight candidates at the competition had to learn the history of their hometown, San Fernando. It was as though a whole new world had opened up to Dawn, thanks to the pageant. The Bel Air/Gulf View representative related: “I learned that in 1818 the whole city was burned down and had to be rebuilt which was done in the 1820s... You live there and you really don’t know.” Then came the question of the night: “What is your biggest fear in life?” There was no fishing for ideas, they “came right away.” Dawn answered: “Not achieving my goals.” One of them was participating in a pageant. “Entering a pageant was something I’d always wanted to do and finally I did. You know, you want to do something but you’re afraid; you don’t know what would be the outcome,” Dawn confessed.

Another of Dawn’s goals is to become a child psychologist; and “colouring my hair” was also on the to-do list. She said: “I’m a very natural person because it’s ‘my’ hair and ‘my’ nails. Colouring it would mean a whole change and I didn’t want to change.” Change she did for the pageant — her hair was styled in a copper-sunset ‘do which complemented her Zadd and Eastman “fish scales” effect pearly white evening gown. Dawn is a past student of San Fernando Government Secondary where she was successful in both O’ and A’level exams. She lives with her father and brother, who were supportive throughout preparations for the pageant. Describing her brother she said: “We were inseparable when we were younger. My mother couldn’t take him out and not take me. Now we’re both working and don’t see each other much.” Dawn works at First Priority Music, Gulf City. “And when I won my parents were like ‘oh my god.’ My brother was like ‘hmmm, you should keep a low profile.’ He couldn’t make it to the show because he had to work but throughout the pageant he kept calling to find out how things were progressing.” Donald even bought the black cowboy hat to compliment Dawn’s silver/black dance outfit for her talent when she had given up her search for one. Dawn’s four-year-old sister Victoria was also ecstatic about her sister’s accomplishment. “Victoria asked my father to print like a million copies of me to stick up all over the wall. My mother wanted to call everybody.”

Now equipped with a sash, trophy, tiara and title, Dawn has the responsibility of living up to the role of Miss City of San Fernando — being a role model for those in her community and following in the footsteps of her predecessor Racquel Vincent. She is now the spokesperson for “Events for Women” formed by the Miss City of San Fernando Committee. The Committee also has plans to hold a youth forum. Dawn informed: “We want to bring the representatives from various schools together so that they themselves can come up with ideas to find out what’s causing the problems with the youth and help find solutions... I also have an idea I want to work on. I found out that there are about 12 orphanages with an average 2,000 children in San Fernando alone and I want to bring more public awareness to that. “My win has changed the way I view society a bit. Everybody’s been supportive — sponsors, councillors, the mayor.” (She also made mention of her cousin Keefe, family and the pageant committee.) “To see how people could come together like this is nice because you see so many negative things in the media, but then you see people who don’t lose their motivation despite all of that and are trying to make a difference... I now feel inspired to make a difference.”