Miss Belize World 2008
Application Form Bio Excerpt

LOCATION:        Belize City

NAME:        Charmaine Chinapen





Please fill out each question carefully and completely. All answers will appear
verbatim  to the judging panel, online  and media.  Please answer using your
best English. If you do not speak English, please have someone translate for you.
It is in your best interest to be truthful.

1.   Languages spoken?  English, Spanish, Creole


2.   What are your interests and what do you enjoy doing the most.
(Hobbies)

Because of my intense passion for the performing arts, I strive to immerse myself in all of its elements. This
range of interests includes singing, dancing, modeling, song writing, hosting, public speaking for charitable
organizations, choreographing, and acting. By embracing all of these arts, not only am I being provided with
a vast body of knowledge, but it is allowing me to find, and to express my own creative voice. This has
inspired me to write short stories and fashion design during my free time. Further, one of my most fun
activities is playing with my beloved German shepherd, Elle. Another fun highlight of my activities is
competing with my brother at video games.


3.  List any special training you have had (music, art, drama, etc).

  • Piano      –Piano at Royal Schools of Music, England, under Patricia Arnold
  • Voice     –Belize Music School under Gina Scott,
Scott Calcagno of John Robert Powers, New York
  • Acting     –Phillip Galinsky of John Robert Powers
Atonia Pettiford of Barbizon, New York
  • Choreography – William Neal, Belize
  • Modeling – Rebecca Bratland of Barbizon, New York

4. List any event you have participated in that are related to any of the following:
music, art, drama, etc).

2007:
•        
Appeared in Pantene Pro-V Print Advertisement for Hype Hair Magazine April 2007 issue

2006:
•        
Modeled for MoeMos Jeans at Launch Party for Tmobile Sidekick 3 Release, New York
•        
Lead acting role as Theodora in Haunting of Hill House & Isabella in Picture at St. John’s University,
NY.

2006_2008
•        Face of Richard Holder Photography, Belize

2005:
•        
Modeled at Fashion Institute of Technology, NY.
•        
Promotional Spokesmodel for Clairol Natural Instincts, Pantene Pro-V in NY      
•        
Promotional Spokesmodel for Jetix Disney Soccer Show in NY

2004:
•        
Modeled for “Belize Passion for Fashion” – House of Culture, Belize
•        
Soloist & Model for “Belize Pre-Easter Show” – Princess Hotel, Belize
•       
 Modeled for “Belize Pre-Christmas Fashion Show” – Biltmore Hotel, Belize
•        
Award Presenter for Belize Entertainment Awards
•        
Coordinator for “Casino Fashion Show” – Princess Hotel & Casino, Belize


5.  List any Awards and special Recognitions received

2008:
•        Silver Key Nominee for Chemistry by the Skull and Circle Honor Society, St. Johns University in New
York, USA

2005:
  • Barbizon television commercial acting scholarship winner
  • John Robert Powers’s singing scholarship winner

2004:
• Country of  Belize CXC (Caribbean Examination Council ) record holder,
11 CXCs with 9 ones and 2 twos, also receiving ones in 3 outside subjects,
with just a few months of study.
  • St. Catherine Academy  (SCA) CXC record holder  
  • 2nd Place SCA Belle of the Ball (Charity Fundraiser)
  • 2nd Place Graduate in final year at SCA

2003:
  • Belize Best Actress Award for lead role of  Mary in “Choices” – Belize’s 1st movie
  • 1st Place in Teen Dance Competition, Belize

2002:
•        Miss St. Catherine Academy High School (Junior Division)

2000:
  • AIDS Awareness representative _ Belize
  • 1st Place for Belize Northern District in Spelling Bee
  • Top 10  nationally n Belize Primary School Examination
  • Salutatorian of Belize Elementary School

1998-2000:
  • Belize Festival of Arts - Multiple Gold & Silver Awards:
  • poems, choral singing and art
  • Double Dare Contestant for Nickelodeon Studios, USA


6. List any sports you have participated in

Swimming, Rock Climbing, Bicycling, Track & Field, Video Gaming, Hiking in the Belizean Rainforest.

7.   Name one person other than your parents, who has had the most influence on your life?  
Why?  

Although this question asks for one person, I cannot separate the impact that both my best friends,
Carmichael Polonio and Michal Havelka have had on my life. They have always been there for me through
their love, support, laughter and care. Both of them have encouraged me to pursue my dreams because they
have inspired me to believe that anything can be possible through perseverance. Carmichael has been my
Belizean best friend for many years and she has always been there to offer me a female perspective on
subjects ranging from career aspirations to silly things like guys. During my time in New York, Michal has
been my Czech confidant who has constantly reminded me that at the end of the day, all that matters is
happiness. Together, these two friends are my ultimate support system and I owe them a great debt of
gratitude.  

8.   What is your proudest personal accomplishment (other than participating in this pageant)?

Given that Belize has the highest rate of AIDS per capita in Central America, I find it paramount to bring
awareness to this illness which continues to afflict so many. My opportunity arose when there was a chance
to audition for ‘Choices”, a play promoting education on AIDS by Rotary Belize. I was selected to portray the
role of Mary, the mother of an AIDS patient. As Mary, I had to play an emotional and a much older character
than myself. Eventually, all our hard work paid off and to my surprise the play was made into Belize’s first
movie. To this day I still vividly remember being fifteen and going to my own movie premiere! Even now when
I see it on television, it still remains surreal to me. This movie has sparked many positive reactions and
HIV/AIDS awareness in Belize.


9. What is the most interesting or unique thing that has ever happened to you
(Aside from being accepted to participate in Miss Belize 2008)
I call it the probability of coincidences. In the early hours of New Year’s Day 2006, I was driving with a friend
of mine when a car crashed wrongly into us. I remember being very shaken up and having to get my mom to
take us to the police station. However, on the way there, a drunk driver crashed into my mom’s car at a traffic
stop light. In all of fifteen to twenty minutes, I was involved in two car crashes. At the police station we now
had to report two accidents instead of just one. Fortunately, no parties were seriously injured! Incidentally,
drunk driving is one of the leading reasons for fatalities and I fully support the platform against such
irresponsible practices.

10. What is the most interesting thing about you?

My impeccable performance to execute a multitude of tasks within a specific time frame is my most amazing
attribute. Pure focus and strategy to attain my goals and the resilience to continue in the face of the odds
have molded me into a strong confident independent female.

11 What is your career ambition and what are you doing or plan to do to accomplish it.

My career ambition is to become a neurosurgeon. I am about to start my final semester at St. John’s
University in New York after which I will earn a bachelor’s degree with a major in Chemistry and a minor in
Philosophy of Physical Sciences. Upon graduation, I will attend medical school where I will dedicate myself to
becoming a neurosurgeon. As a neurosurgeon, one of my ambitions will be to help people in developing and
underdeveloped countries through “Doctors Without Borders” and other charities with similar objectives. In
taking an active role in such charities, it is my goal that one day, I will be able to fund and manage my own
charity to assist orphaned children and teenagers.

12.   Are you currently a student? Yes
If Yes, Where?
   St. John’s University, New York

Area of Study? Chemistry Major with a Pre-Medical Concentration & Philosophy Minor of Physical Sciences

13.  Are you currently employed?   Yes
If so where? General, Organic and Biological Chemistry Tutor at St. John’s University

14   Have you completed secondary school?  Yes
If yes where?................St. Catherine Academy, Belize

15   Have you completed University/college?   No., Final year student

Where?  St Johns University

16.    Have you completed any technical School. ..............NO

Professional School?  If yes, ......................................YES
where?  ................John Robert Powers Modeling Agency in NY
Barbizon   in NY


17   Described where you were raised and what your childhood was like.

I was born to Guyanese parents in Curacao.  Due to my father’s profession as a banker, we moved around
quite often when I was a child. After Curacao, my family moved to Grenada, where my brother Kevin was
born. Next, we moved to St. Lucia.   At age nine we moved to Belize which became my home.
I have been privileged enough to see many different cultures of the world while growing up.   I’ve learned
from a tender age not to be quick to be judgmental of others, but to be compassionate and open-minded
since people are often shaped by their circumstances and environment.  I honestly believe this is the
greatest lesson I have learnt as a child.   I love Belize for this is where I spent my formative years and where I
have explored our beautiful Maya ruins, cayes, caves and our famed barrier reef.
I started school at Belize Elementary and then to St. Catherine Academy. It was in Belize where I fell in love
with performing arts. Overall, I look at Belize as the angel that has kept her wings around me, nurturing and
teaching me as I venture on this path of life.


18.  List any interesting or unusual jobs you may have had.    

At 17, I got the opportunity to be the Coordinator of a Princess Casino Fashion        
Show, December 2004. What makes this interesting is that I had to watch the show  
which I had put together from the glass windows, as I could not legally be allowed   
into the casino.


19.  List any volunteering you may have done.

•        Emergency Room & Academic Admissions
Winthrop University Hospital, New York
- Liaison between incoming patients and residents through test and   medicine deliveries
- Worked with incoming residents by managing events and handling                            correspondences.
•        Conference Services, St. John’s University, New York
- Managing events by overseeing procedures, checklists, outlining policies & regulations for client’s
information and queries.
•        Walk for Aids – New York
•        Multiple Sclerosis Association of America
•        Mercy Kitchen – Belize  ( A place for the Elderly and others in need of food)
•        HelpAge – Belize
•        Penny Harvest – New York
- The largest child philanthropy program in the US that empowers children by allowing them to contribute to
charitable organizations through  pennies
•        Rotary Belize
•        Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA)
- Worked on the Summer 2008 Program & taught Math & English to Standard 4 children

20.  List all the countries you have visited.
  • •        Curacao
  • •        Czech Republic
  • •        Belgium
  • •        Austria
  • •        Guyana
  • •        Panama
  • •        Costa Rica
  • •        USA
  • •        Canada
  • •        Puerto Rico
  • •        Mexico
  • •        Venezuela
  • •        Holland
  • •        England
  • •        St. Lucia
  • •        Grenada
  • •        Martinique
  • •        Trinidad & Tobago
  • •        France
I love traveling.

21.   Where is the most interesting place you have ever been?

From the moment you step into the castles with the manicured lawns and the detailed sculptures, England is
the most magnificent place. I was overwhelmed by how history came alive in the cathedral architecture
through the stained glass mosaics, and the high ceilings. The British countryside is a storybook artist’s
canvas where places like Stratford-Upon-Avon materialize from a Shakespearean dream. Being in such close
proximity to a plethora of attractions, I fully appreciated the awe-inspiring sites such as Stonehenge. The
opportunity to go to Althrop, where my role model Princess Diana spent her formative years has deepened
my inspiration and increased my motivation to reach my goals.  


22. Where would you most like to visit in the world and why?

Being that I am a philosophy of science major, the conflict between science and religion has intrigued me.  It
is my dream to visit Jerusalem. It would be an awe-inspiring opportunity to enter a world where Jesus walked
and spent his last days, a place that Christianity, Islam, and Judaism all call home. I imagine a trip to
Jerusalem would be a highly meaningful, indescribable, and transformative experience.

23.  How would you describe yourself in three words?

Empathetic, Resilient, Determined.


24.   What is your favourite?

Film/Movie
:  The Wizard of Oz

Music: Pop

Singer/Band: Madonna


Book: The Land of Xmainia (in production) by Charmaine Chinapen


25.   If you could be a reporter for one day and interview any one person living or no longer with
us (famous or not) whom would you choose and why?

Princess Diana would have been the person I would most have wanted to interview. Globally, people saw the
manifestation of her strength and compassion, and they admired her for it. As a girl she represented the
fairytale story and as a woman she represented a dynamic strong independent persona. Her life was
reflected in her work with HIV, AIDS patients, and land mine victims. It was not just her involvement in multiple
charities, which garnered global attention, but it was her humane persona of connecting with the individuals
who suffered, and letting them know that someone cared.  It was not just struggles of divorce, adultery,
depression and the constant media pressure that made Diana a strong person, but it was her impeccable
grace and level-headedness, with which she handled her situation. In essence, she epitomized the goodness
that human beings could become, and should become.

When it comes to the present, I would love to interview Bill Gates, a person who embodies a successful
entrepreneur. Not only has he revolutionized the world of computers thereby vastly affecting everyday life,
but his charitable work through the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation has profoundly impacted less
developed countries. To be able to have accomplished so much in such a short span of years is truly
astounding.


26. If you were to become Miss Belize 2008, what charitable cause would you most be interested
in working with and why?

As Miss Belize 2008, it would be one of my foremost goals to assist in informing my fellow Belizeans about the
prevention and the necessary behavior change to combat HIV and AIDS.


27.   Do you have a personal quote / motto that you would like to share?

"Follow your own dreams, your own heart and your own desires."


28.   If you could wake up tomorrow having gained one ability or quality, what would it be?

When I was a little girl, I envisioned myself waking up with the ability to heal people, and to multiply food. Of
course, I soon realized this is humanly impossible. Presently, I yearn for the acceleration for the development
of nanotechnology and other scientific research which will help to increase food supply and spur advances in
medicine in order to confront and alleviate sufferings.


29.  Is there anything else that you would like to say that we did not ask?

The winner of Miss Belize should embrace, and be an accurate representation of Belize’s diverse culture.  
She must naturally possess the qualities of intelligence, and grace and beauty.  Miss Belize must be
exceedingly committed to showcase Belize as a luminous, scintillating, and multi-faceted jewel. Yet, as much
as this rings true about our country, it is imperative that Miss Belize brings global recognition to the abilities
and talents of our people.  I write as a proud Belizean and wish nothing more than to represent Belize on an
international level.  With all that I have overcome and with all that I am currently striving to do, I truly believe I
am the best candidate to hold our prestigious title of Miss Belize 2008          
Miss Belize 2008 Beauty Pageant