Environmentally Friendly Oneka-Miss St. Lucia Earth 2007
By Alicia Clark

We are all familiar with Sandra Bullock’s smashing movie hit of 2000: Miss Congeniality. In the movie Sandra plays an FBI agent who has to go undercover as Miss New Jersey in the Miss America Pageant. The idea is totally humiliating to her as she is one of the many stereotype individuals who think that pageants only consist of glitz and glamour. “A bunch on ‘tanorexic’ girls showing off their bodies with a smile fake enough to alert a detector.” Ironically, reigning Miss St. Lucia Earth 2007: Oneka Mckoy was once one of those stereotype individuals.
A born Guyanese, Oneka came to St. Lucia with her mother at the age of five (a move which she has never regretted). The now stunning beauty admitted to The VOICE that growing up back then she was not as she is today. “I can remember being very timid and soft spoken” she said. Although she has never gone back to her homeland, the five years spent there were no breeze for her. “I went to preschool there…..I remember being picked on in school for no reason at all. I wasn’t one of the brightest students either so I guess that played a part in me being picked on” she recalled. On arrival in St. Lucia Oneka and her mother moved to Morne Fortune where they resided with her aunt. “When I came down here everything changed. I remember making friends and that was a little strange to me because of my experience back home in Guyana.”
Oneka began her school years in St. Lucia at the Methodist Infant school. “I began to pick up and became a little more intelligent I would say. School became something fun for me then…..where as before back home I remember crying when my mom would drop me off because I didn’t want to stay there’ she laughed. She slowly came out of her shell of being timid: “I was still quiet but I became exposed to new things and I became friends with a few girls.” Back then Onkea also admitted to being some what of a tomboy. “I was more of a tomboy…..I had Barbie dolls too but I always wanted to do the more adventurous things. After my mom stopped dressing me it would be a jeans, T-shirts and sneakers. I was more of a tomboy in terms of my dressing; I guess it was because of the friends I had back then…they were into it so I guess it kind of rubbed off on me” she smiled. Her progress continued both socially and academically.
Throughout her seven years at the Methodist Primary, Oneka began to flourish academically often ranking in the top three in her classes. “I was picking up very well. There were times when they would give everybody their ranking in the class and sometimes I would be second…..never really first but I always maintained my stride.” Another reason for her academic development was because of her mother. “My mother was very good at Mathematics so when ever I had a problem I knew I could go to her. Sometimes I would get stressed and cry and she would be the one to calm me down and go through the sums step by step with me…and that really helped” she said. Soon it became time to put her academic development to the test with the Common Entrance Exam. “On the morning of the exam my mom came to drop me outside of the school. We all had to gather outside the school to be transported to the Castries Comprehensive which is where we sat the exam. I was more excited than nervous.” It was as if the heavens wanted it….for the school in which she sat the exam became the Alma matter for the next five years. “My first choice was Saint Joseph’s Convent since it was closer to my home in Cedars, but I never really wanted to go there. I always wanted to attend Castries Comprehensive for some reason. I remember after the exam my friends and I went into town just to lime…..release that stress we were under and one of my friends who was attending Compre (sp) at the time asked me if I had passed for the school and I told her yes because I was so sure about it.
As a result, Oneka entered the Castries Comprehensive in total excitement and completely out of her shell. “From Form One I became very loud and very friendly….more jovial. I spoke to every one and I just tried to settle in being a very friendly person” she laughed. Although very few of her primary school friends had entered the school with her, Oneka had no problem fitting in and finding new friends because of her boisterous and jovial nature. Her joviality however, could not help her in adapting to the new workload and her first introductions to a variety of new subjects. “I’ve always had a problem with Maths and I was struggling a little so I knew that I had to become more focused. I think Form One is that time where you just enter Secondary School and you are all over the place but by the time you got to Form Two you’re a little more relaxed and accustomed.” In addition to her becoming more academically focused, she also became one of the most popular students of her time due to her joviality. Unlike other secondary schools, the Castries Comprehensive allows the students to choose their subjects at the end of Form Two due to their wide variety of technical subjects that the students are exposed to throughout their first two years. By the time Oneka had officially settled down and maintained her focus, she was ready to choose her subjects. She chose Social Studies, Integrated Science, Information Technology, Literature, Spanish and Visual Art in addition to the compulsories: Maths and English.
When asked about the reason for her choices (which was surprising as one would have thought she would have chosen more academics) she replied: “I chose Information Technology (I.T.) because I was really into computers and I felt like it was compulsory because at that time everyone was into home PC’s so I felt like choosing I.T. to help me with that. As for my reason for Integrated Science I was always more drawn to the sciences than the business subjects but I still tried to mix it up a bit. She also joined a number of clubs like the Drug Free Club and Student’s Council. Although she was never directly into athletics she did participate in the Inter-House Cheerleading Competition From Form three where she represented her house Amazona (which she considered to be the best as any ex-student would say). “I was a big supporter of my house but cheerleading was my thing…..if there was a time however, where my house needed me to participate in sports then I did, just to make an effort. I also ran the marathon a couple of times and at the time I didn’t care about placing or winning….it was the numbers of participants that counted.”
As a result of her CXC performance Oneka (who was also voted valedictorian and prom queen in her final year) soon after made her way to the Sir Arthur Lewis Community College in the D-temps branch where she pursued Computer System Engineering. Her school days had suddenly become lighter and well balanced at the Community College due to her various schedules. “I honestly thought that it would have been more difficult but then I got accustomed to the work load and we had very long breaks in our time table.” She also told The VOICE the reason for her pursing Computer Engineering: “I really wanted to pursue a career in nursing but at the time I was too young to enter training so I did Computer System Engineering because I honestly feel like the two go hand in hand; I feel like with all the technology in the medical field my knowledge of computers will come into play at some point.”

Her years spent at Sir Arthur consisted of her and her friends talking on the lunch tables and playing cards which was forbidden and working together trying to solve their calculus problems. “When we weren’t playing UNO we were studying because the lecturers helped us out a lot. They would personally give us time to complete our exams…..so for me it was relatively easy. The last year in particular was a breeze for me because we only had four exams and we had ample time to study” she said. With regard to her social life she remained the same jovial Oneka that everyone had well grown accustomed to. She also continued playing her role as Assistant Treasurer in the Student’s Council, and did cheerleading throughout her two years.
Another aspect of Oneka’s life that she is extremely passionate about is playing Steel pan. “I started playing pan in August of 1999 and I did it through my five years at Compre (sp) and my two years at Sir Arthur.” She has been playing with the Busta Emerald Steel Orchestra and says that her love for this creative art form of music will never die. “I think pan really helped with my personal development because you have to remember all these musical notes………I see some children playing pan and they are forced to leave because they feel it would interfere with their work and honestly for me that was never the case.
It helped me because I had retained so much information from learning the notes in pan…..my brain worked over time and it helped to instill that in me and apply it towards my studying. It also gave me an opportunity to travel…..Martinique is my band’s second home…..we always go there to play; recently we went to Grenada to play for their Panorama Competition and we are currently planning a trip to Trinidad next year for their pan competition as well” she said vibrantly.
After she left the Community College Oneka decided to venture off into the world of work which was not as hard as she expected. ‘Ironically, I was supposed to start job training and I had a month home….the thing is I didn’t want to be home doing nothing so I went to the Electoral Department to get my I.D. card and I asked if there were any job oppertunities and he told me to send in my application (which I did the following day). He took me to his boss who said that I would be given a call and he did…..he asked me to start the day after and that was it from there.” Oneka started working at the Electoral Department on High Street and has never looked back. Oneka is currently employed as an Assistant Computer Technician where she assists in making the I.D. cards. With her knowledge for computers, she was also given the opportunity to help with the digital tallying of the votes in the last General Election which was an unforgettable experience for her. Her passion for nursing has not yet been diminished by her love for computers and she is currently saving up to start her nursing program sometime next year.
So how did this jovial, boisterous tomboy become this glamorous ‘earth queen’? “I think everything was put there for me…..it’s like God wanted this for me. The opportunity for me to take part in the Miss Earth Pageant came about with me working at the Electoral Department. “Pageantry was always something that I wanted to do. I can recall when I was at Methodist there was this fair that we had and I went up for Miss Best Dressed…..it wasn’t really a pageant you just had to display your clothes. I came I strutted my stuff and I won” she beamed. As to why she didn’t enter the various pageants being held at the Castries Comprehensive during her school years she responded: “For me….those were looked at as a big thing and I was a little scared” she confessed. Not straying from the initial question she went on to say how her opportunity came about. “One of my co-workers Desmond Etienne…..he is friends with Hanna (one of the organizers of the pageant) he asked me if I would like to take part in the pageant because they were still looking for candidates at the time so I said ok and he took out my photo which he showed Hanna who gave me a call……and that’s how I became a contestant. The experience for Oneka was very new, yet one that has afforded her with memories to last a lifetime.
“I learned how to properly apply my make up…..and to walk in high heels which was all new to me. I had never worn heels. As for make-up, the most I could have done was apply a little eye liner and my lip gloss. It was a lot of hard work. We had practice three times a week and we had all these exercises to do. We also did etiquette classes and self confidence classes which really helped me a lot with my self development as well as grooming” she said. It also meant gaining some life long friends as all the girls in this year’s pageant got along famously according to Oneka. It was not just about a pageant and being on stage. There were many things and activities which had to done before ‘showtime’. “Our main platform was on deforestation in St. Lucia so we had to go to some schools and talk to the children about deforestation. We also planted two trees in each of the schools. Talking to the children was a bit difficult for me because I had to break down all the terms to them but I found that they understood it very well because a lot of them knew about deforestation and the significance of trees.” Clearly getting involved in a world of pageantry is not all about glitz and glamour as Oneka soon found out. “It was a lot of hard work and you had to be very organized and punctual; that was key”
The night of the actual pageant, Oneka admitted that her nerves only kicked in when she got on stage. Whilst the other contestants were in their ‘zone’ she was helping with the organization by blowing balloons. Although her performances throughout the night were not done to perfection, where she fell short she made up for it improvising and in the question and answer segment where she answered her question fluently and audibly. She admitted that she did have one fierce competitor but managed to emerge victorious and captured several awards in the process. By no means was it over…..in fact things were just about to begin as Oneka would soon find herself being viewed as not only Miss st. Lucia Earth but a probable Miss Earth. It was a journey made half way around the world which took her all the way to the Philippines. “I was a little scared because honestly I thought I would have had more time to train but it was only two months of intense training and then I was off. I traveled on my own and it was the first time that I had traveled so far…but for me if you could read and ask for help then you on you way. I was on a plane for three days so it was very exhausting.” She recalled.
The experience all together was one that has kept Oneka well rounded to this day. Not only did she experience once in a life time opportunities, she was given the chance to meet some of the world’s most beautiful people from a variety of different countries. Although she was not one of the top sixteen chosen she still held her head up high. Her one concern was that she was unsure as to how she would be greeted back home having to face such disappointment. Despite her concern she was beyond extatic to be back home and has settled to going back into her simple life. For Oneka, this is not the end of her pageantry days as she is looking forward to being a contestant in next year’s carnival queen pageant as well as pursuing her career in nursing.
She urges the youth to reach for the stars in whatever they do and to take full advantage of the opportunities given to them.