By Donnie Velasco Date Posted: December 31, 2008
On the evening of the 8th of November, suspense filled The Yagoona Greyhound Social Club. The silence was engulfed by a roar of cheers and applause as Bianca Lucas passed on her title of Miss GK Australia to Cherry Cornelio.
Miss Cornelio was the Miss GK representative from Victoria. She was born in the Philippines and moved to Australia when she was 5 years old. Her experience of poverty, upbringing and profession as a teacher all influenced her choice to run for Miss GK – “I’ve always learnt to appreciate what I’ve got. I have good family… They’ve taught me well and I think I was inspired to go back one day and to actually teach over in the Philippines,” she said during an interview on the night.
As part of the Miss GK program, candidates were directly involved in raising funds and awareness for GK. In particular, Miss Cornelio, the first regional candidate from Victoria, raised funds and awareness by planning movie nights, a masquerade ball, running raffles and presenting to different groups and business.
Miss GK is a challenge and growing experience. Most candidates who decided to run for the program were full time students and were working on the side. When asked about her experience, Miss Cornelio said that, “Trying to juggle uni, my jobs and this[Miss GK] altogether was hard for me but I had great support from everyone.”
From the Philippines was guest speaker Mari Oquinena, who delivered an inspirational speech framing the evening with the theme of Miss GK 2008, ‘Building a Legacy’. “Tonight is an honouring for all the heroes here in Australia,” he said, addressing all the Australian support for GK.
Overall the night was a success. There were various videos on the progress of GK internationally and performances including a KFC (Kids for Christ) dance and a Papua New Guinea tribal dance.
As part of the Miss GK program, candidates were directly involved in raising funds and awareness for GK. In particular, Miss Cornelio, the first regional candidate from Victoria, raised funds and awareness by planning movie nights, a masquerade ball, running raffles and presenting to different groups and business.
