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Bongani Ndlovu, Showbiz Correspondent
Mitchelle Chikwengo was on Saturday crowned Miss Nust 2018 after shrugging off stiff competition from 14 other contestants during a pageant held at the university in Bulawayo.

The second year Environmental Science and Health student walked away with $300, a modelling and grooming course from Open Eye Studio. The studio is owned by former Miss Zimbabwe, Samantha Tshuma who was one of the judges.

The first princess, Moira Sibanda won $200 and a grooming scholarship from Sarah Mpofu’s Fingers Academy. Crowd favourite Michelle Mupasi was second princess and received $150 plus a grooming scholarship from Open Eye Studio. Miss Personality was Noxolo Sibanda and People’s Choice Rumbidzai Sumburera completed the list.

Chikwengo who was last year’s People’s Choice when the outgoing queen Terai Moyo was crowned said she was confident she would win the competition.

“Modelling is something I have a passion for. I won’t say this is a hobby, I live with it. I’m so excited to have won Miss Nust as I was confident that I’d triumph. It’s been a long road to the finals but everything fell into place and the only thing is to look into the future,” said Chikwengo.

The former Townsend High School pupil said she wanted to work in educating people on health and educational issues.

“I’m an advocate for education. I’ll mainly focus on educating the people about the environment and how to take care of it. So I’ll use the title to do that during my reign,” said Chikwengo.

According to the judging panel that comprised Tshuma, socialite-fashionista Gilmore Tee and Skyz Metro FM radio personality Donna N, it was difficult to choose a queen.

“The competition was very stiff and it was difficult to get the winner. We had a challenge choosing a queen. It was only during the question and answer session when it became clear who deserved to be the queen,” said Tshuma.

“We were judging the walk, the smile, confidence and how they put their outfits together.”

After the pageant Tshuma said Miss Nust 2018 will start her free modelling and grooming course at Open Eye Studios and thereafter she will be ready for other pageants.

However, it was not all rosy as the modelling contest started three hours late much to the dismay of the thousands of students who had gathered at the Nust Ceremonial Hall as from 6PM.

When the show started at 9.25PM, dance crew Anti-Virus showed off some well choreographed moves that ignited the mood in the auditorium.

It seemed to make people forget that they had waited for over three hours for the show to start.

Thereafter the show got underway with the introduction that showed off the 15 models vying for the top prize through a well arranged dance routine that was well thought-out by Khayelihle Kanye and Anelisiwe Ndebele who are Open Eye studio models.

There was a cacophony of screams and yells from the female students in the crowd when 15 male models strutted on stage to escort the models during the evening wear section.

The well dressed gentlemen captivated some of the ladies in the crowd while the men looked baffled at what the hype was all about.

The combination of DJs Nospa and Mzoe kept the crowd rocking each time they are given a chance to play tunes from the decks. DJ Nospa was on the decks when models were on stage and DJ Mzoe would come in during breaks.

By the time the main act Zimdancehall artiste Seh Calaz took to the stage, it was already 2AM and people were tired because of the long night that they had. Even Seh Calaz seemed to be drained as his performance was in spits and spats lacking the energy that he is known for.

Also a combination of poor sound coming from his mic and power outages did not work in his favour.

Performances from IMG, TMK, I Am King on saxophone, Vinnie King among others were also good.—    @bonganinkunzi