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Inspired by predecessors that include a secretary of state, first lady of Denver, doctors, writers and members of the Denver City Council, the 2005 Owl Club debutantes not only have big plans for their respective futures, they made it clear they won’t rest until those dreams come true.

Photo 1: McKenzie Ashley, who will enter Florida A&M as a Presidential Scholar, was the first debutante to curtsy at the 2005 Owl Club Ball. Photo 2: Mullen High School graduate Kira Robinson is the reigning state champion in the 100-meter girls hurdles. Photo 3: Alicia Johnson, left, Unique Cooper, Chaqua Williamson, Shannon Melton and Aja Smith all were members of Overland High’s Class of 2005. Photo 4: Dominique Robnett, left, follows her grandmother and sister as an Owl Club deb; Jenee Jemison was on the committee to pick Grandview High’s new head basketball coach; McKenzie Ashley, also a Grandview alum, plans to become a journalist; and Theresa Daniel, who’ll attend Denison University, is the first in her family to attend college. Photo 5: East High alum Adamma Spearman, left, graduated seventh in a class of 387; Alexa Mackey was senior class president at Thomas Jefferson High; Jennifer Crumpton will be a Daniels Fund Scholar studying computer engineering at Colorado College; and Japera Walker was the founder and president of George Washington High’s International Baccalaureate Black Students Program. Photo 6: Natalie Howard, who earned an academic scholarship to Xavier University, is president of the Young People’s Division at Shorter AME Church. Photo 7: Aprille Nulan helped represent East High in the African American History Bowl and traveled to Ghana to assist in renovating a children’s library. Photo 8: Tynesha Matthews, left, also is bound for Xavier; Ashley Laisure Williams will be pre-med at Georgia Tech; Danielle Porter was accepted by five colleges and chose Clark Atlanta University; Mikiala Jamison was Smoky Hill High School’s 2004 Homecoming Queen; and Natalie Howard played varsity volleyball all four years at GW. Photo 9: Brittney Little is among Denver’s top 18 youth golfers; she also learned American Sign Language to communicate with a family member who is deaf. Photo 10: Shana Tynes, left, wrote for George Washington High’s student newspaper and played in the Citywide Marching Band; classmate Japera Walker will be pre-med at CU-Boulder, preparing to become a neurosurgeon; Jennifer Crumpton, also a GW alum, plans a career as a physician’s assistant; Shante Fortune was on the honor roll at GW and will major in journalism in hopes of becoming a freelance writer; Brianna Phillips was a four-year veteran of the GW student council and will attend the University of Miami; Whitney Carter, a classical pianist, was an honor student and cheerleader at GW. Photo 11: Adamma Spearman, left, was on East High’s state champion Constitutional Scholars team and will be pre-med at Stanford University; Chelsea Washington was captain of East’s cheerleading squad and will study nursing at the University of Colorado; Kendra Love made National Honor Society at East and was accepted by six colleges; Jasmine Howard says she is “fascinated by the beauty and wonder of the human machine.” Photo 12: Norma Riley, left, Rosalyn Smith, Dorothy Pratt and Gwen Brewer served as coordinators of the 2005 ball. Photo 13: Nothing like a game of patty-cake to ease the pre-ball jitters. Clockwise from top are Danielle Porter, Tynesha Mattews, Ashley Laisure Williams and Mikiala Jamison.

Kira Robinson, who parlayed a state championship in the 100-meter hurdles into a full-ride track scholarship to the University of Texas, has every intention of competing in the 2008 Olympics. Dominique Robnett earned her private pilot’s license last year and, come fall, is enrolling in Metropolitan State College’s top-rated aviation program as the next step toward following the lead of her mentor, Owl Club member Eric Mosley, and becoming a commercial airline pilot. Imaan Potmis, who had the highest grade point average in the debutante class (3.98 from Highlands Ranch High School, where her favorite subject was trigonometry) took the advice of her calculus teacher and will study biomedical engineering at Northwestern University. Her goal is to become a genetic researcher.

Shannon Melton has wanted to become a dentist since she was 10 and will take the first steps on that journey when she enters Creighton University this fall. Likewise, Chelsea Washington, whose mom narrated the presentation, has known for a long time that she wanted a career in medicine, but it wasn’t until she shadowed nurses in the ICU at Children’s Hospital that she realized becoming a doctor wasn’t for her.

“Nurses get to do a lot,” she said, “but I want to have a family, and nursing seems more conducive to that.”

The debs’ chances for turning fantasy into reality are high, thanks to the backing of family and friends and the knowledge they can always count on the support of the Owls, a men’s social and service club founded in 1941.

The 42 members are prominent in local business, cultural and civic circles. “With this presentation, we send them off to their respective futures,” noted president Penfield Tate III before turning the microphone over to narrator Nina Washington. “Their high school work has been done, their proms and graduation parties have taken place, and now they are ready to really make us proud.”

Owl debutantes are chosen on the basis of good grades, high moral character, leadership ability and contributions to the community. Some are from well-known families – the class of 2005 includes the daughters of former Denver Bronco Mark Haynes and 7News anchor Bertha Lynn – but pedigree doesn’t trump achievement. Each honoree has to earn the privilege on her own merits.

Jasmine Haynes, for example, was one of 10 students chosen to travel to Ghana to renovate a school library and build a children’s playground. At East High School she was co-secretary of the Black Students Alliance and a member of the school’s top-rated PANDA team. She’ll major in political science at the University of Northern Colorado. Maria Jo Naves (her dad is Judge Larry Naves) helped take East’s Constitutional Scholars team to a regional championship. She sang in the Colorado Children’s Chorale for seven years and, after earning a degree from CU-Boulder, envisions a career on the Broadway stage.

Regan Byrd was captain of the debate club and president of Future Business Leaders of America at Mountain Vista High School and will double major in sociology and political science at the University of Denver; Salome Syrie helped organize the Cherry Creek School District’s diversity conference and will major in vocal performance at the University of Nevada at Las Vegas; Breanna Tomlin was a three-sport athlete at Kent Denver School and will major in biology at Spelman College, which she will attend on a Woman of Distinction scholarship; and Chaqua Williamson, a Daniels Fund Scholar from Overland High School, plans to major in sociology at Clark Atlanta University.

Also presented at the dinner ceremony held at the Marriott City Center were McKenzie Ashley, Whitney Carter, Unique Cooper, Jennifer Crumpton, Theresa Daniel, Shante Fortune, Mikiala Jamison, Jenee Jemison, Natalie Howard, Alicia Johnson, Brittney Little, Kendra Love, Abbryonne Lucas, Alexa Mackey, Tynesha Matthews, Danielle Porter, Aprille Nulan, Brianna Phillips, Aja Smith, Adamma Spearman, Shana Tynes, Japera Walker, and Ashley Laisure Williams.

Owls Marvin Pierce and Skip Riley chaired the ball. Coordinators were Gwen Brewer, Dorothy Pratt, Rosalyn Smith and Norma Riley. Daryl Walker was the pianist and Julie Ann Cary the vocalist.

Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-820-1314 or jmdpost@aol.com.

More online: Additional pictures from the Owl Club Debutante Ball. www.denverpost.com