2011 National Final
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The 2011 National Final
The young women of Irish birth or descent listed below will be competing for the honour of being the New Zealand Rose of Tralee, to succeed Lisa Monaghan, the 2009 New Zealand Rose of Tralee.
The Contestants:
Tegan Smith - Auckland
Tegan Smith is 26 years old and works as an Operations and Health and Safety Manager for DSL Logistics.
Her Irish ancestry comes from her paternal great grandmother who was born in Keadue in Roscommon.
Tegan has represented NZ in China in 2008 as Miss Leisure World and has been on stage in pageants since she was 14. She is currently renovating her home and is a mentor with Pillars (an organisation who supports children who have parents in prison).
She enjoys being outside in the sun and going to the beach and in the winter watching a movie in front of a fire. She hopes to go overseas and come back to NZ to set up a business within the next 5 years.
Hannah Crowley - Taranaki
Hannah Crowley is a 25 year old doctor at the Taranaki Base Hospital. She completed her Bachelor of Medicine and Surgery at Otago with distinction last year.
Her Irish heritage is on both sides of the family with great great grandparents hailing from Cork, Wexford and Wicklow.
Hannah has done ballet dancing since she was 7 and has completed her exams to advanced levels. She has also played a range of sports representing Taranaki in both Rugby and basketball and plays netball at the premier level.
Hannah spent some time in Ireland working as a medical student and is interested in spending more time abroad in the medical field before returning to NZ to settle down. She has an interest in rural medicine and would like to focus on this longer term.
Anna Rose Mills - Wanganui
Anna Mills is a 27 year old dental hygienist.
Her great great grandparents on her mother’s side are from Tipperary, Cork and Rosscommon. Her aunty was the NZ Rose of Tralee in 1984.
Anna learnt the piano for 7 years then moved on to play the piano accordion. She currently plays touch rugby and indoor netball to keep fit. She aims to run a half marathon and complete the “tough guy, tough girl” challenge this year.
Longer term she would like to specialise in the field of dental forensics
and start her own business as well as become a qualified group fitness
instructor. Anna has travelled to the UK and western Europe as well as
Singapore and Australia.
Katie Bennett - Manawatu
Katie Bennett, born in 1984, is a sales and marketing executive and assistant photographer the MG Media group.
Katie’s Irish heritage is through her maternal grandparents who are originally from Dublin.
Katie graduated with a triple major for her Bachelor of Physical Education (Exercise prescription, Exercise science and Sport and exercise psychology). Since completing these she has also done a Diploma of Massage.
Her interests range from Hockey, netball and volleyball to ceroc dancing and “photos and pictures” (including taking them, printing, scrapbooking them, framing and painting and drawing).
Katie’s current ambition is to complete an ironman triathlon in the 2012/13 triathlon season and has been progressing towards this goal by increasing her distances in competitions over the last few seasons.
Kathleen Payne - Gisborne
Kathleen Payne is a 22 year old Customer Services officer with the National Bank whose mother was born in Mohill in County Leitrim.
Kathleen has a Bachelor of Arts in theatre and film studies and mass communications. She plans to pursue a career in the media after a year travelling and working in youth camps overseas.
She has visited her family in Ireland and intends to revisit them during this time. Kathleen loves to paint and keeps fit playing netball and dancing.
She has done ballroom dancing but is currently learning to salsa. Her musical talents include playing the guitar and she admits to being a chocoholic.
Ailbhe Ryan - Hutt Valley
Ailbhe Ryan is a 25 year old who was born in Dublin and is a customer services officer with CIGNA Insurance. Her father was originally from Tralee and her mother from Cavan.
She has a Bachelor Arts Honours degree majoring in history and politics and has a Masters in International Relations.
Ailbhe moved to NZ 4 years ago and has made Wellington her home enjoying the harbour and café culture. With her current role she is doing a Certificate in Financial Services and hopes to make a career in this field.
She does Irish dancing and loves to cook and bake. In 2007 she volunteered at a school in Haiti and has spent time in Israel and Palestine for her thesis in Arab/Israeli conflict. Longer term she would like to live on a self sufficient farm and take trips back to Israel and other exotic places.
Erin Saunders - Christchurch
Erin Saunders is aged 21 and is currently studying to be a teacher at Canterbury University teachers College.
Her heritage is from Derry and County Clare.
She is a keen Irish dancer and has competed at the Worlds in 2009 in Philidelphia. Her talent also extends to music, including playing the guitar and singing and she is increasing these talents by teaching herself the tin whistle and piano.
When she has qualified as a teacher she would like to teach at a country school and combine this with opening her own dancing school after studying to pass her exams to be a qualified Irish dancing teacher.
Having experienced the disasters in Christchurch Erin would like to do some training in Urban Search and Rescue with her puppy. She would like eventually to settle on a farm after travelling around Europe
Louise Thomas - Invercargill
Louise Thomas is a 23 year old Intern pharmacist working for the Southern District Health Board and is a medical officer for the NZ Territorial Army. This is following her completion of a Bachelor of Pharmacy at Otago University.
Of her great great grandparents five of them came from Ireland with her maternal great great grandmother coming from Tralee. Her other grandparents came from Country Armagh and Antrim.
Louise has done ballet, jazz and Irish dancing and keeps active playing netball, touch rugby, canoe polo, scuba diving and surfing.
Louise has worked with the NZ Army in response to both the earthquakes in Christchurch and has an ambition to combine her medical skills with her army interests and be deployed overseas assisting in aid work.
Listen to Elizabeth as she talks about winning the 2010 NZ Rose of Tralee title
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“The New Zealand Rose will represent the entire Irish community at the International Final.”
Key sponsors of the NZ Rose of Tralee,2010
