There were seven (7) very young and talented Filipino-American
girls, ages 5 - 9 years old, who competed this year for the
title Little Miss Fil-Am. Each one is equally beautiful, talented
, well-poised and articulate but only one girl will take home
the crown. But what each and every one has gained is the camaraderie,
meaningful experience and personality development that can
make a difference of a lifetime!
AWARDING
AND CROWNING
The
Little Miss Fil-Am candidates at the front row (L-R) are Miss
Congeniality and Viewer's Choice Awardee HAZEL ENGVALL, CHARLENE
BUTIAL, 1st Runner-Up and Miss Photogenic ZARI ARIANA WHITAKER,
CHARLENE BUTIAL, Little Miss Fil-Am 2011 and also Best Gown
& Best Talent awardee JANELLE KIM SERQUINA, 2nd Runner
-Up and Miss Popular ARABELLA PAGE SAN JOSE, and ARIANA BALIDO.
Together with them at the back row are from left to right,
Committee Chair MALOU HAMTO, emcee TONY LIME, Program Coordinator
PAT DELA ROSA and emcee & Miss Fil-Am DEJAH URBANOVITCH.
LITTLE
MISS FIL-AM 2011 Janelle Kim Serquina won the coveted crown
and awarded with $250 cash, sash and trophy. She also won
the Best Talent and Best Gown award.
1ST
RUNNER UP Zari Ariana Whitaker too home with her $150 cash,
sash and trophy. She is also the Miss Photogenic.
2nd
RUNNER UP Arabella Paige San Jose was awarded with $100 cash,
sash and trophy. She is also the Miss Popular.
Miss
Congeniality HAZELL ENGVALL was picked by her fellow candidates
as the winner. She was given trophy and sash for this award.
Miss Photogenic ZARI ARIANA WHITAKER was awarded with sash
and trophy for winning the hearts of the judges with her cute
smiles and tantalizing eyes as the best photographed candidate.
JANELLE KIM SERQUINA's white gown with gold accents earned
her the Best Gown award for which she was awarded with sash
and trophy.
Best
Talent award went to JANELLE KIM SERQUINA for her rendition
of "The Climb" by Miley Cyrus, deserving of a trophy
and sash.
Most
Popular ARABELLA PAIGE SAN JOSE won this award not only with
trophy but with 10% of tickets she sold.
Viewer's Choice Awardee AWARD HAZEL ENGVALL got the most number
of votes from audience earning her a trophy and 10% of the
value of votes given to her.
Participating in this pageant calls for dedication and time
for which the candidates' contributions are recognized by
awarding each one of them a participation trophy.
The FIL-AM CULTURAL DANCE GROUP provided the entertainment
by dancing different Philippine folk dances namely BANGA,
UYAOY, BINAYAH, SAKUTING, T'BOLI AND TINIKLING.
Details about these dances can be seen in the CULTURAL DANCE
PRESENTATION page.
Nothing
could be more entertaining when the seven (7) candidates wowed
the audience with their modern dance group presentation choreographed
by Miss Jennifer Magbata. After the lively dance presentation,
the candidates introduced themselves.
ARIANNA
BALIDO - she is 5 years old and in Kindergarten
at Del Rio Elementary School in Oceanside. She enjoys
singing and dancing. Her talent is to dance to the tune
of " Somebody to Love " by Justin Bieber.
Proud
Parent: Ivana Plasencia
CHARLENE
BUTIAL - she is 8 years old and in 3rd grade
at Reynolds Elementary School. She is a recipient
of Raccoon Award. She enjoys reading books and playing
Nintendo DS. Her talent is to dance to the tune of
" So Sexy" by Marian Rivera.
Proud
Parents : Precy Cabrera and Lucito Butial.
MIA
CATAPANG - she is 5 years old and in Kindergarten
at Oceanside Adventist Elementary School. She
has participated in Run a Thon 2011 and Winter
Capital 2010. Her talent is to dance to the
tune of " I Love Candy" by Justin
Bieber.
Proud Parents : Norma and Erwin Catapang
HAZEL
ANGEL ENGVALL - she is 5 years old and in
Pre-School at Quality Children Services . She
enjoys singing and dancing. Her talent is to
sing a song titled "Teenage Dream"
by Katy Perry.
Proud
Parents : Robert and Lisa Engvall
Miss
Congeniality
Viewer's Choice Award
ARABELLA
PAIGE SAN JOSE -
she is 4 years old and in Pre-Kindergarten at
HeadstartMaac Project. She enjoys playing, story
time, singing and dancing. Her talent is to
sing a song titled " How Did You Know?"
by Chickie Pineda.
Proud
Parents : Romeo and Alma San Jose
Second
Runner-Up
Miss Popular
JEANELLEKIM
B. SERQUINA -
she is 6 years old and in Kindergarten at Temple
Heights Elementary School. America's Model Search
winner February of 2010 and Student of the Month
award last February. She loves to sing, dance,
modeling, biking and play the Wii. Her talent
is to sing a song titled " The Climb"
by Miley Cyrus.
Proud
Parents : Nelson and Delia Serquina
LITTLE
MISS FIL-AM 2011
Best Talent awardee
Best Gown winner
ZARI
ARIANA WHITAKER - she is 6 years old and in 1st
grade at Bobier Elementary in Vista. She was Student
of the Month January 2011 and Miss Congeniality in
Little Miss Fil-Am 2009. She loves to color and draw,
dance, sing, watch Nickelodeon, swim and ride her
bike. Her talent is to sing a song titled " Fireworks"
by Katy Perry.
Proud
Parents: Derrick Domingue and Misty Whitaker
Who
says that these little girls have no talent? They are the
future stars in the field of entertainment. Each one had exceptionally
showcased what they can do best in this segment.
Arianna
Balido danced to the tune of " Somebody to Love "
by Justin Bieber.
Mia
Catapang performed a dance number with Justin Bieber's "
I Love Candy".
Janelle
Kim Serquina belted a song entitled " The Climb"
by Miley Cyrus.
Arabella
Paige San Jose did a rendition of " How Did You Know?"
by Filipino artist Chickie Pineda.
Zari
Ariana Whitaker lit the stage with her singing of " Fireworks"
by Katy Perry.
Charlene
Butial danced gracefully to the tune of " So Sexy"
by Marian Rivera.
Hazel
Engvall sang the song entitled "Teenage Dream" by
Katy Perry.
Annalou Majul is a previous candidate of two pageants,
the Miss Bohol pageant and the Miss Fil-Am pageant. She has
garnered 1st runner up for both pageants and subsequently
four trophies and a crown. Annalou is currently as a Social
Services Assistant at Vista Knoll Specialized Care and holds
a Bachelor's degree in Multimedia from San Diego State University.
Vanessa
Okafor is currently the Miss Oceanside 2011. She has won
four different pageant titles in the past year. She will be
attending the University of California San Diego (UCSD) with
a major in Biochemistry, in the fall.
Lupe
Rios - He believes in what Thomas Jefferson said “There
is plenty of opportunity in our lives, but that most of us
miss it because it comes in the form of hard work in overall”.
And Mother Teresa said” That perhaps not all of us could
do great things, but that we can all do small things with
great love”. He tries to live his life by using all the
gifts and talents that he’s been given for the service
of others. This takes much discipline, which is acquired through
consistent practice. He thanks his parents for always expecting
him to do so. He was born and raised in Jalisco, Mexico for
the early part of his life. His family moved in the USA as
a migrant field working family to several places around the
States, “depending on where the crop was ripe” as
they say now. He is very thankful to have taken advantage
of all the opportunity America offers. Two years ago, he graduated
from the University of Washington in Seattle with a degree
in International Relations and minors in Religion and Music.
From there he worked as Manager for Abercrombie and Fitch,
and then Club Monaco of Polo Ralph Lauren. Now he does what
he loves most, Music!!! He is currently the Director of Worship
at Mission San Luis Rey in Oceanside CA.
His interests are: music, painting, bullfights, trail running,
cooking for friends (and thus, EATING !!!), traveling, and
using every day to find inspirational people that helps him
have a positive outlook in life, and encourage him to seek
his dreams through hard work and in the small acts of great
love in our every day life.
Judges
are Pam Pehn, Lupe Rios, Princess Elise Cruz and behind is
Miss Teen Oceanside 2011 Carlie Callahan.
DEJAH
URBANOVITCH
Our
Hostesses is Dejah Urbanovitch. She is the current Miss Philipines
California Regional title holder, and our very own Miss Fil-Am
North San Diego County. Dejah grew up in Los Angeles, and
graduated from the University of Miami, Florida Cum luade
with a bachelor's degree in Political Science and History.
Today, she lives in San Diego and currently works for Vistage
International, helping CEOs make better leaders, decisions
and results that drive the economy and employment of our country.
Dejah is active within our community as a volunteer and fundraiser
for several international non-profit organizations. She loves
dancing, painting and spending time with her family. The Oceanside
Filipino Cultural Celebration is one of Dejah's favorite events
of the year, and she is honored to emcee the Little Miss/Pre-Teen
Fil-Am pageant.
Tony
Lime recently joined the FilAm Organization. Although
a new member, he has been a faithful supporter of this group.
He has organized events for the FilAm in the past. He did
this when he was the Director of Events and Choreographer
for the Isang Tinig Choir; a group who helped FilAm Organization
raise funds for some of their past events. An adept organizer,
he helped coordinate the most recent fund raising events for
the FilAm such as Halloween Fright Night 2010, Valentine’s
Ball & Mother’s Day Delight Celebration.
Tony
Lime has a strong background in the hotel and hospitality
industry. At only 22, he became General Manager at Best Western
International. He has also managed other properties for Holiday
Inn and Marriott International.
Tony
Lime worked as Flight Attendant for Northwest Airlines and
Dance Performer for the Lion King Parade in Disneyworld.
Currently,
Tony Lime is working as an Accounting Tax, A/R and Credit
Collection Consultant for Active Network and Payroll Specialist
for Marriot International.
Jennifer
Magbata is currently graduating in 8th grade at Jefferson
Middle School. She is nominated as Girl Athlete of the Year.
She is one of the only two (2) upcoming freshmen who made
the Oceanside Dance Team for the year of 2011 - 2012. She
had joined the Fil-Am pageants and won the titles of Viewer's
choice Award 2008, 1st Runner-Up in 2009, and 2nd Runner-Up
in 2010. At school, she also joined the volleyball team ,
basketball team, and track and field for two years. Next year,
she is hoping to be in the OHS basketball team and be in the
dance team at the same time.
The
candidates for Little Miss & Pre-teen FIL-AM candidates
2011 meet at the Luiseno Park (corner Vandegrift and Douglas
Dr) almost every weekend prior to the June 11th pageant to
learn to do their group dance, learn how to walk like models
and build their self-confidence in the Question-and-Answer
portion of the contest. The candidates and the committee put
a lot of their time and effort to come up with a very entertaining
and excellent program in the June 11th Annual Filipino Cultural
Day.
DEJAH
URBANOVITCH 
