* Miss Universe Canada 2012 - National Finalists
* Miss Universe Canada 2011 - Chelsae Durocher / Contestants
* Miss Universe Canada 2011 - Chelsae Durocher photo gallery
* Miss Universe Canada 2011 - Watch Chelsae Durocher (video)
* Miss Universe Canada 2010 ( Winner / Contestants )
* Miss Universe Canada 2009 ( Winner / Contestants )
* Miss Universe Canada 2008 ( Winner / Contestants )
* Miss Universe Canada 2007 ( Winner )
Miss Universe Canada 2012 - National Finalist
Casendre Paquet
Age: 22 | Height: 5’6″
Hometown: Saint-Laurent, QC
Born and raised in Montreal, Casendre comes from a multicultural family with a lot of backgrounds, including Dominican, Haitian, Israeli, German, British and many various others. But to simplify things, she’s half Haitian and English.
When she was a little girl, she used to dream about becoming a movie star. So to be able to fulfill her dream, Casendre’s parents enrolled her into an art school, where she learned how to express her feelings through acting and painting. Then, when she got a bit older, like many other girls, her dream changed.
At 15 years old, she moved to West Africa, Benin with her family, where they lived for a couple of years. All the images that were shown on television about African countries were mostly about poverty and unlikely landscapes. Casendre, was terrified! Not only because of that, but also because she was about to leave behind her all friends and family.
She thought that she was going to be living in a small house in the middle of nowhere and perhaps made of wood. Once she arrived and saw the enormous villa in which she was about to live in for the next 3 years, and the community surrounding her, she was speechless. Africa wasn’t like all theses awful images which were shown on television.
Indeed, it was a beautiful and interesting country! It may not have been similar to Montreal, but it was sure better than what she’d expected it to be. She attended two of the best schools in Benin with different educational systems in which she obtained her BAC and IGCSE diplomas. Meanwhile, even thought she was living “the life”, it didn’t keep her from noticing how most of the local people were living in property! What really saddened her was when she saw a little girl, approximatively 8 years old, carrying a huge and heavy basket of fruits on her head at the market. She was probably working for her family’s sake, instead of being a child and attending school. This made Casendre realize how unfair life was - no child deserves to be forbidden of having a childhood or even attending school.
What she will always remember and cherish in her heart from this experience are the people, coming from all the different countries that she met during her stay. Furthermore, what she enjoyed was also taking the time to visit and explore what Africa had to offer. This involved going on a lifetime trip to Pendjari (safari park in the North of Benin), being able to visit Togo and also some of Ghana’s history.
Beneath all this, the impact of living in Africa not only made her grow up and see life from a different angle, but it also got her into realizing what she really wanted to do with hers: become a journalist. This experience gave Casendre the passion of wanting to learn more by traveling, discovering places and writing my experiences through writing. She believes Africa is where her life actually started!
Sponsored by: Sandals and Beaches, Marcel Bergeron: criminologist/security expert (M.S.C/C.S.M), Éric Cyr: personal trainer/ yoga teacher, Robert Paquet photograph, Alain Trudeau photograph, Tea & Mate, Family and Friends.
No comments:
Post a Comment