Shay McNabb Crowned 2014 FNUniv Pow Wow Princess, to be featured Next Issue of RezX

Regina, SK – Shay McNabb of George Gordon’s First Nation was recently crowned the 2014 First Nations University of Canada (FNUniv) Pow Wow Princess during their annual pow wow which took place April 12-13. RezX got the chance to interview the 17-year old Grade 12 Miller High School student to talk about the excitement of winning the pageant.

“I still can’t believe it, it still hasn’t hit me yet, it happened so fast and I’ve been quite busy with pow wow and contests, so when it happened at first, I thought the other contestants had won…and when they announced it, the way they were saying runner up, I was a little confused thinking that it was me, until they announced…and your Champion Shay McNabb!”

Once she heard her name, she knew she had accomplished her goal, but getting here was a long and rigorous process.

“The qualification was, you had to be single, you had to be between age 16-21, they wanted to see your marks to see how well you are doing in school, those were just the basics,” says McNabb.

“You also got judged on an essay you submitted with your application, and on Saturday you did your speech, so you get judged on your speech and how well you can project your voice, and on Sunday, there was a dance contest, they did two straight songs and you got judged on how well you did”.

In the end, she did very well and will now take on a lot of duties as the 2014 First Nations University of Canada Pow Wow Princess. This June she will graduate from Miller High School and then enrol at FNUniv in the fall.

McNabb will also be featured in the upcoming June Edition of RezX Magazine with Ryan Peterman of Leftboot Photography doing the photos and Shane Bellegarde writing the story – June 6th is the expected release date.

– Story by Chris Tyrone Ross / Photos by Ryan Peterman