Pageant princess gets crowned again
"This was a very educational and yet rewarding experience for me."
PASSION and hard work were part of Amy Stemmet’s armour that helped to secure her second princess crown win at the Miss Teen Durban beauty pageant held at the Tropicanna Hotel in Durban, recently. With an unusual twist, this particular contest required its participants to have more than just beauty and brains but compassion as well.
Stemmet, together with other participants, had to visit and profile a disabled children’s home and spend time with the children.”This was a very educational and yet rewarding experience for me. In school we are taught about people with mental disabilities and we think we understand but until you meet them in person you can not experience it. They are lovely and wonderful people. I feel blessed to have met those children,” she said.
Stemmet’s chosen children’s home was the Sunfield’s Children’s Home in Verulam where she got to meet and interact with the children. As if that was not enough, the contestants also had to find a designer to sponsor the evening gown for the gala event. Local designer, Vanessa Pillay of Hombre Designs, said designing and creating Stemmet’s look was a breeze because of her natural elegance. “On my first meeting with Amy, I noticed she had this very regal look about her. I’m a minimalist designer, so together with her ideas and my advice we settled for something simple and stunning. She has the height and perfect figure with a touch of elegance which completed the look for a Miss Teen Durban,” said Pillay.
The young women also had to showing off their talents and were put through other challenges, which were all designed to narrow down participants to the top three finalists from whom one winner would be chosen to be an ambassador for Durban.
Stemmet’s mother, Deidre, said she is her daughter’s biggest fan and that she hopes that Stemmet’s potential for modeling takes her as far as she wishes to go. “I am always proud of Amy. She is a soft hearted, strong willed young lady that oozes love, compassion and confidence. I would like to see her take it to the next level as she is a fun, level-headed person. She is easy to work with and has lots of talent to share. Although she was dissapointed for not bagging the queen crown win, she said she was proud to be the princess for Durban, her hometown.
