Nine year old Francielli Baker was crowned Miss CYFAR 2009 during a pageant held April 4, at the Gladys Abraham Elementary School on St. Thomas. She was among five girls – ages six to nine – participating in this first-ever Miss CYFAR competition. CYFAR is the Children, Youth and Families At Risk (CYFAR) program, a federally funded after school program administered by UVI’s Cooperative Extension Service. Baker also won the contest’s Best Talent and Miss Congeniality awards. Joining her in the pageant were Francier Baker (Best Evening Wear and first runner up), Majestik F. Estrada Petersen (Miss Photogenic and second runner-up), K’ Nyzha K. Henry (Miss Intellect and second runner-up) and Adajah Y. Benjamin (Miss Cooperative – and second runner-up). The girls competed in introduction, speech and dance categories. They also took part in a question-and-answer session and modeled sports wear, professional wear and evening wear. About 100 parents and friends were in attendance.Photo by Dale Morton
