Their reasons for enjoying the experience ranged from the serious to the sublime, but one thing is for sure: It’s a real treat to be an Owl Club debutante.
Echoe Malone, for example, liked how “It makes you feel like a princess, or Cinderella. You’re all dolled up, you have your hair and makeup done, and you get your picture taken. A lot.”
For Keatra Nesbitt, being a deb “kinda magnifies the whole thing about how I did such a wonderful job in high school. It feels good to be recognized like that.”
Indeed it does, agreed narrator Rosemarie Allen. “You are here today because you’ve made the right choices,” she said. “There will be hurdles, roadblocks and barriers for you to overcome, but if you always focus on your self-worth … you will succeed (despite feeling) like you’ve been beat upon, ripped (to) pieces, crumpled up or ground into the dirt.”
Malone, a graduate of Thomas Jefferson High School planning to study theater arts and broadcast journalism at Howard University, and Nesbitt, who’d been in student council and a member of the Lady Warriors track and field team at Montbello High, were among the 22 recent high school graduates presented at the 56th annual Owl Club Debutante Ball. The dinner ceremony took place Saturday at the Marriott City Center.
Members C.T. Smith and Skip Riley were the chairmen; and Rosalyn Smith, Dorothy Pratt and Nina Washington served as ball coordinators.
President Marvin Pierce delivered welcoming remarks and Oscar Minter III made the scholarship awards.
In addition to Nesbitt and Malone, the debutante class of 2007 consisted of Lameisha Banks, Kiara Calbart, Ashley Gaffney, Jasmyne Garrett, Amber Harris, Athenna Harrison, Ashley Knight, Brittney Martinez, Paige Mayes, Jaleesa McIntosh, Rhesa Melvin, Simonique Mitchell, Penda N’diaye, Grace Njau, Aliese Polk, Ashanti Robinson, Desiree Spencer, Jamilia Walker, Hana Willis and Shayla Yon.
N’diaye, whose father, Alioune Badara N’diaye, is a native of Senegal, fell in love with the art of dance when her parents enrolled her as a child at Cleo Parker Robinson Dance. She concentrated on dance at Denver School of the Arts, from which she graduated, and after spending two summers studying with the Alvin Ailey troupe in New York, “I decided then and there that dancing with a New York company is where I’ve got to be.” Come fall, she heads to New York University to further that dream.
Hinkley High School grad Rhesa Melvin says that while singing and dancing are her passions, she’s practical enough to know that making it big in either of those fields is a longshot.
“My idol is Brandi and I’d love to have a career like hers, but I’ve got to be realistic and have a backup plan.” Toward that end, Melvin is going for a degree in business management at Colorado State University. “After I finish college and establish my own business, then maybe I’ll get to indulge my passions,” she said.
The good grades that Simonique Mitchell earned as a student in George Washington High School’s International Baccalaureate Program netted her three full-ride scholarship offers; she accepted the one from the University of San Francisco, where she’ll take the first steps toward becoming an OB-GYN or pediatrician. At GW, she was student council treasurer and belonged to the Del Teens of Delta Sigma Theta sorority.
Society editor Joanne Davidson can be reached at 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com.
