It is easy to understand why Coral-Lee Joe was named Miss Congeniality at the Miss Teen Canada Global Pageant this summer – the 13-year-old is brimming over with personality and positivity.
She and nearly 50 other teens from across Canada spent a week in Toronto in August for the pageant. “Getting to meet all the girls and hearing their stories and making friends,” was the best part of the pageant, Coral-Lee said. Participants were taught about public speaking and team building and also about make-up, fancy hair-dos and learning to walk on high heels.
Coral-Lee enjoyed the experience but said she also saw the darker side of pageant life. “There was quite a bit of bullying, girls talking behind each others’ backs and stealing stuff from each other,” she said. Coral-Lee didn’t like that behaviour and continued to be kind and helpful when she could be. “That’s her personality, always kind and thoughtful,” her mother Gladys Joe commented.
Halfway through the week-long pageant she captured the regional title for British Columbia and on the final night she was awarded Miss Congeniality.
One of Coral-Lee’s most memorable experiences of the pageant was on the first day, following the opening ceremony, when she felt compelled to give an impromptu performance.
“Through the circle ceremony I realized that although we are all very different we’re also the same in that we all share the same struggles. Everyone told their stories and it bonded us as a group right away. It made me realize that pretty girls aren’t always happy; quite a few of them were depressed. We’re all human and everyone has personal issues,” Coral-Lee said.
“I felt they needed to be lifted up, to lift their spirits. I wanted them to feel strong for what they’ve gone through.”
Coral-Lee sang acapella the National Women’s Warrior song, which she learned on a canoe journey. Coral-Lee has been performing since she was three years old. She is a member of the shíshálh Nation’s Xwamstut and Tl’ikwem dance group and has also taken ballet and tap lessons at the Coast Academy of Dance.
Back home in Sechelt, Coral-Lee is grateful for her pageant experience. She pointed to several bunches of flowers that were given to her from relatives and friends to mark her achievement.
“I’m grateful to have this experience. I learned a lot and made my family proud,” she said.
Coral-Lee has just started Grade 8 at Chatelech Secondary School. Next month she will be part of a theatre production at the Raven’s Cry Theatre, Syiyaya, Our Families, Our Stories. The production is being presented by the Sechelt Arts Festival and will kick off the festival, which will run from Oct. 5 to 22.
