Anne-Marie Jennings
Northern News Services

NNSL (Sep 11/98) - For Kim Rossignol, the experience of having participated in the Miss Canada International Pageant will remain with her for many days to come.

"I don't regret it for a single second," Rossignol said. And even though she was not awarded the crown and title of Miss Canada International, Rossignol did come back with one prize to add to her collection.

"I won a joke prize for having brought the most luggage of any of the contestants in the Miss Teen Canada International Pageant," she said. "It's not that I brought a lot of clothing with me, I brought a lot of souvenirs to give away with me."

In fact, Rossignol said that of the contestants in either her pageant or the Miss Teen Canada International Pageant -- won by Miss Teen NWT Nicole Gagnon -- they had brought the most outstanding gifts.

"It's the thought that counts, but most of the girls had only pins or pens to give to the other girls," Rossignol said. "My mom and my aunt had made denim gift bags for all the contestants and we filled them full of stuff.

Now with all the excitement of the pageant over, Rossignol is looking ahead to the community projects which she wants to work with over the next year. Among her plans for the immediate future are participation in the upcoming AIDS walk, as well as putting together a team for the Run for the Cure, an event which she participated in last year.

But Rossignol's connection with Miss Canada International isn't necessarily over and done with now that the pageant has been held. She shared a room with Leann Baird, Miss Stoney Creek -- who went on to become Miss Canada International.

"I've got a package to send off to her, and I'm waiting for some photographs from her," she said. "We took turns bringing our camera to events."