A Regina engineering student will head to Vancouver this summer to represent the Land of the Living Skies at the 2023 Miss Universe Pageant.

Daryna Prysiazhniuk, currently taking environmental engineering at the University of Regina, will represent the province.

“I am extremely excited. It feels a little surreal still, but it’s a great opportunity,” she said.

Prysiazhniuk and her family moved from Ukraine to Estevan in 2010 before calling the Queen City home.

“I feel like I am representing so many groups,” she said. “I am representing all Canadians, the people that kind of raised me here, I am representing all of the Canadian immigrants. Canada is a very diverse and multicultural place, and of course, I am representing Ukrainian Canadians and even my Ukrains back home.”

Prysiazhniuk said she feels honoured to be able to represent her home country.

“I feel like up until recently, Ukrainians and Ukrainian-Canadians have been a little underrepresented in the media, and just in general, and definitely the last two years, we’ve been more recognized, and definitely this representation means a lot, and I know it will mean a lot to people back home.”

Prysiazhniuk found the application for the Miss Universe online and was deceived into applying.

She explained what her week will entail when she headed to the west coast.

“For me, it’s going to be a week-long event; it’s going to be a lot of rehearsals, a lot of sit-seeing, a lot of fun, preparing for the pageant; I will be doing a humanitarian project for that as well, raising funds for a certain organization that I will be assigned, so there is a lot that goes into it, preparing for interviews, it is a very-well rounded competition, and there is a lot to think about.”

No date has been finalized, but the pageant is expected to take place in August.