After a whirlwind year as Miss Teen Richmond World, Danica Tan is feeling more prepared to move forward into the next chapter of her life when she hands over the title Sunday.
Tan, a Grade 12 student at R.C. Palmer secondary, said she has grown significantly in the 12 months she spent making an average of five to six public appearances a month that were part of her formal duties as the competition’s winner.
“I am definitely not as lazy as I thought I was,” Tan quipped. “Most teens are portrayed as wanting to sleep in all the time.”
Tan simply couldn’t afford to as she assisted with a variety of fundraisers for organizations such as Free The Children and SOS Children’s Villages BC while preparing to represent B.C. at the Miss Teen Canada World national competition held last July in Toronto.
Although she did not capture the national title, Tan said the experience proved to her she has the confidence to put herself in the public eye, something she was unsure of heading into last year’s competition in Richmond.
“I didn’t think I had a chance of winning back then,” she said. “I entered only a couple of weeks before the contest deadline and didn’t really know what to expect.”
But she managed to compete well and won the title that she will bestow on a new winner during a ceremony at the Richmond Executive Airport Plaza Hotel.
“I think I have grown a lot in the last year because of what I have experienced,” Tan said. “For one, my self esteem has risen immensely, and I feel much more confident.”
Those two attributes will come in handy as Tan heads to fashion design school at LaSalle College in Vancouver after she graduates from high school this June.
