MISS MANDAUE 2022 JEWEL IMAGE: Literacy advocate, Med Tech student, beauty queen (The Freeman)

 Jewel Alexei Buot Image, 20, considers her stint at Miss Mandaue 2022 as one of the greatest challenges she has faced.

The beauty queen hailing from Minglanilla, Cebu shared to The FREEMAN that she had to juggle her academics and preparations for the pageant.

From attending classes to going straight to training for her walk, Q&A, rehearsals for her Talent presentation, and showing up to every practice for each event and portion of the competition, Jewel had to persevere to see the pageant through.

With persistence and a great support system, she overcame the obstacles and was crowned Miss Mandaue 2022 in May, besting 11 other candidates.

“Thank God, I pulled it off with the help of my mom who has always been there to drive for me back and forth and to my supportive team who was always there to check on me and guide me,” said Jewel. “My manager Stacy Avila Lloren, my trainors Antonio Dolino, Jon Dominique Roa, my makeup artists Scarlet Tumalon, Alvin Alforo and Jay-ar Abella, my friends, my grandparents, and most of all my family.”

“The crown isn’t just for me but for everyone who was there in every step of my journey,” she added.

From her fascination with heels, bags, and watching beauty pageants, her astonishment of science and laboratory work as a little girl, to her drive of educating children, the stunner shared that she had been greatly influenced by important figures in her life.

Getting into pageantry

Previously crowned Miss Medtech Velez 2021, Sugat Kabanhawan Festival Queen 2021, Miss City of Talisay 2019 second runner up, and University of Cebu Miss Intramurals 2019, Jewel shared that it was her mother Sandy Grace, and her grandparents, particularly her grandfather, Alfredo Buot Jr., who got her into pageantry.

“Since I was a little girl, my mom treated me like a princess and her baby doll with the matching clothes, shoes, bags, and hair accessories. My grandparents on my mom’s side, especially my lolo, is also so particular with posture and etiquette,” she said.

Jewel, who says that she admires purposeful beauty queens, added that she considers her mom, a finalist of Miss Cebu Tourism 1996, as her greatest influence as a beauty queen.

“She is a queen not only because of pageantry but she is a queen in all aspects. Because for me the true beauty of a queen should not only please the eye but should also warm the heart,” said Jewel.

Her father, Joel, who she considers to be a disciplinarian though quite supportive of her joining pageants, made a deal with her.

“He is very supportive but with one condition: I should always prioritize my studies and be responsible in managing my time. Also, my mom should always accompany me as much as possible,” Jewel said.

“He is my father, my friend, and my confidant. He is quite strict especially when it comes to guys, but I can always open up and be honest with him.”

She also got into pageantry because she wants to speak out about her advocacies and be an inspiration to aspiring beauty queens.

“[I want to] show to them that being a beauty queen is mostly about our purpose and what we can do to make a positive change that really has a big impact in the society, environment, and the world,” said Jewel.

Pursuing Medical Technology

Jewel is in her second year of Medical Technology studies at Velez College. It was her grandmother, Dr. Sheila Buot, who was a science professor specializing in Chemistry, that sparked her desire to become a medical technologist.

“She works her way in the laboratory, and she shares scientific explanations about things. And when I was in Senior High, I experienced working in the laboratory and I really enjoyed it. I know that being a medical technologist is doing lab work which made me choose this college program,” said Jewel.

During the pandemic, she realized the vital role of medical technologists in healthcare.

“Diagnoses of diseases are based on laboratory test results performed by medical technologists, and I see this as a good pre-med course. God-willing, I get to proceed to medical school,” she added.

Core values, love for animals

Jewel, who is close to her grandparents, shared that she got her core values mainly from them. “[They] taught to love God first, be prayerful and faithful to God, always choose to be morally upright in any situation, and to never let my guard down,” said Jewel.

It was likewise her grandpa, Johenes Image, who taught her to love nature and animals. “We used to have 50 dogs and 14 different breeds before. Now we have 23 breeders including our adopted stray dogs and cats,” said Jewel.

Her family has a number of animals in their home including several exotic pets and farm animals.

“We have goats, cows, ducks, geese, turkeys, guinea fowls, and ornamental chickens. My favorite exotic pet is my Vietnamese pot-bellied pig named Spam and my Hedgehog, Miss Prickles,” said Jewel.

Another grandma, Elnora Image, drilled into her the value of saving and spending money wisely. Like her grandma, Dr. Shiela, her Lola Elnora is also an educator. “They taught me the importance of education,” she said.

Advocating for education

With a love for teaching running through her veins, Jewel advocates for literacy for children ages 5-12 years old in marginalized communities.

“I decided to make this my advocacy because I really experienced it firsthand when the pandemic struck and a lot of children from marginalized communities were deprived of quality education since it was hard for them to access digital learning,” said Jewel.

It was thru her conversations with the kids where she learned that they had others answer their modules for them during the pandemic. This drove her to offer free tutorials, printing of modules, reading lessons, and interactive reading sessions for them.

“This means they are not learning, and it is not effective to these children, so something sparked in my mind that I really need to do something,” said Jewel. “I want to teach [them] to read and to love reading.”

Beauty with a purpose

Before she was hailed Miss Mandaue 2022, Jewel had wanted to win not only for the fame and prestige, but for the purpose of the crown.

“Through Miss Mandaue, I know I can make a difference and can be a catalyst for positive change,” she said.

With her title, it is Jewel’s goal to make her vision of providing education to less privileged children as the mission of her team with the help and support of Mandaue City.

“Me and my court are currently brainstorming and making presentations for our upcoming projects. It will be an umbrella project that has sub projects for the youth, education and environment,” she said.

“We will then present this to the Miss Mandaue Organization, LGU and Taga Mandaue Incorporated (TMI) for approval so that we can start as soon as possible and make our reign fruitful and progressive.”

Jewel aims to finish her degree first, but is open to joining other pageants.

“If given the opportunity to represent Mandaue or Cebu soon and have enough time to prepare, I will wholeheartedly accept and prepare for it,” she quipped.