all the contestants with the lovely hosts Kenrick Ibana and Stella Gaspar

Last November 11th, 2011, I was one of the judges of the Mr. & Ms. University at Mariano Marcos State University in Batac, Ilocos Norte. The theme was a celebration of festivals. I have never been to a school pageant this grand, MMSU & it’s organizers did such an amazing job.

I’m actually a proud MMSU baby, I spent half of my life in MMSU – Laoag. Marionite til 2nd year of high school before I left for LA.

MMSU showcased all the different festivals celebrated within the Batac-Paoay area through a wonderful series of production numbers but my favorite has to be the Dragon Fruit number. Tell me that is not THE cutest little Dragon Fruit dress? There was also this large dragon fruit being tossed around by the performers, it was just adorable.

I wasn’t even aware I was being flashed in the big screen. I’m very shy when it comes to these things, especially since all my co judges were actual professionals and the MMSU crowd was huge. It was quite intimidating.

I didn’t expect to be called up  to the stage to present the award for 1st runner up together with a fellow judge, I swore I was bound to trip on my 5 inch wedges! I was such a nervous wreck I didn’t even notice that I actually knew the girl I was walking the stage with, Lis Pascua.

all photos: Ronan Domingo

Congratulations to all the winners and to the newly crowned Mr. & Ms. MMSU!

Thank you to the wonderful people of MMSU for having me most especially to Bianca Pastor and Ronan Domingo.

I couldn’t take any usable pictures from where I was seated, plus my 40mm lens doesn’t help either. Ronan was kind enough to let me use some of his pictures!