April 14, 2003 – The senior class president at Charlotte Amalie High School and captain of its girls' basketball and volleyball teams proved to be the most valuable player at Saturday's Queen Talent and Selection Show on St. Thomas.
Janelle K. Sarauw, 17, rose above a field of five other competitors to capture the title of 2003 V.I. Carnival Queen, also winning Best Cultural Wear, Best Eveningwear and Miss Congeniality.
Michelle C. Wiltshire, 18, a senior at All Saints Cathedral School and a junior dance instructor at the V.I. Institute of Performing Arts, was named first runner up. Wiltshire won Best Talent honors for a dance performance filled with acrobatic leaps and flips and tied for the title of Most Cooperative.
It was hard to find any losers among the contestants appearing on stage Saturday night at Lionel Roberts Stadium. Khadija de Lagarde, 17, tied with Michelle for Most Cooperative and was chosen by the photographers as Most Photogenic. Takara Scott, 17, a National Merit Scholar, was named second runner up and won Miss Intellect in the question-and-answer segment on the topic of premarital sex. De Lagarde and Scott also are seniors at CAHS.
Also keeping the competition stiff were Michelle Martin, Junior ROTC battalion captain at CAHS, and Kendra Vicars, 18, a senior at Ivanna Eudora Kean High School.
As the competition rolled into its fifth hour approaching the big announcement, even in the audience there was no sense of who among the six contestants had made the best impression before the judges. "I think it was very close. I think the talent was very good," spectator Elise Moore said.
Queen Janelle serenely accepted the cheers of her supporters at center stage at close to 1 a.m., dressed in an aquamarine column gown with a translucent neckline set subtly a-twinkle with aquamarine crystals. "I can't describe how I feel," she told reporters as she began her reign over "Music, Mas and Pageantry for Carnival 2003."
Amid the crowd that gathered around, her father, former St. Thomas Administrator Levron "Pops" Sarauw, bounced joyfully across the stage, a large bouquet of red roses held high overhead. "I am very, very, very happy," he said.
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