by Eva Dameron
Daily Lobo
Juanita Toledo won Miss Indian UNM for reasons beyond hergood looks.
"I showed a lot of character onstage," she said.
Three students ran for the Miss Indian UNM Pageant at the SUB on Sunday.
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Toledo, of Jemez Pueblo, won the title, along with Miss Congeniality and the People's Choice Award. About 100 people attended the event.
She used storytelling for the traditional talent segment and got the audience to participate. She said the judges most likely picked her above the other contestants - Celena McCray and Vanessa Whitehorse - because of her personality.
"I was able to get the audience involved," Toledo said. "I had them participate in making the sound of the rain when I was telling my story. I think they kind of knew about my campus involvement. What I've done so far and what I plan to do is what got them."
Toledo's story was about the forming of her people.
"Storytelling is a tradition for all Native tribes," she said. "I told the story of our people and how we came to be. Our origins extend back a long time ago. They're not recorded, not documented. We came from the Four Corners area, migrated down south,
replenished there."
Toledo said she ran for Miss Indian UNM because she wanted to represent the American-Indian community.
"Not only in the Native community, but UNM in general," she said. "I wanted to use this position as a recruitment position, going out to high schools and middle schools, trying to promote UNM."
Toledo said she was instilled with family values growing up, and she likes to foster a sense a
community.
"I was taught at home that it's always about community," she said. "That's hopefully what I'm trying to create here. There's already a strong sense of it here at UNM, from what I've seen."
Toledo was born in Washington, D.C., and moved to the Walatowa village in New Mexico when she was 3 years old.
"Life in Jemez is rural, really secluded," she said. "Walatowa is the only village that speaks Towa, and it's an oral language. It's an oral tradition. It's not written. So I was able to learn the language and the culture."
Toledo is majoring in secondary education with a minor in
fine arts.
"I want to be a teacher, a high school teacher," she said. "I've always been into the arts since I was a little girl. I've been painting, drawing, beading - kind of dabbling a little bit in everything."
Toledo said she was thankful for winning the pageant.
"I hope to spread joy and happiness all over this campus,"
she said.
