With only minutes to go until the house lights dimmed and the spotlights were switched on for the 25th anniversary Beautillion, David Jones, one of the 33 high school seniors presented Sunday night at the Marriott City Center, paused to collect his thoughts.
“It’s been a busy, great and amazing experience,” Jones concluded. “I’d thought my junior year (in high school) was pretty good, but now I can say that I don’t know what could possibly be better than what I’m experiencing now.”
In addition to being chosen for the Beautillion, Colorado Academy named him the all-time career and season rebounder and shot-blocker for the school’s varsity basketball team. The four-year letterman also is ranked in the national Top 30 of high school basketball players and is entertaining offers from 11 colleges.
“This, college, my basketball season and caroling with my school choir . . . wow, it’s all pretty amazing,” he said. Jones is the second in his family to take part in the Beautillion; older brother Randy was presented in 2004.
Both Mayor John Hickenlooper and Deidra Walker, president of the sponsoring Denver chapter of Jack and Jill of America, seemed to agree.
“These are handsome, intelligent and forward-seeking young men, with awesome lives ahead,” Walker said.
Hickenlooper popped in to offer personal congratulations to the Beaus. “I just want to show my respect for who you are and what you’ve accomplished. I especially want to encourage you to go to college and earn your degree, and then come back to Denver to establish your homes, build your families, and share your wisdom and talent in the community in which you grew up.”
If the Beautillion wasn’t exciting enough by itself, Overland High School senior Eriq Shipp, the Beau with the highest grade-point average, had just learned he had been accepted to Howard University. “I didn’t even have to open the envelope,” that arrived Friday at his Aurora home. “I knew what it was and just started jumping up and down.”
Shipp, who is Overland’s senior class president, is planning to become a dentist.
Since August, when Beautillion co-chairs June Johnson, Vanessa Jamison and Faye Wilson Tate hosted a getting-to-know-you reception, the Beaus have participated in a community service project (spending quality time with children affected by HIV/AIDS at Rainbow House) and attended several educational workshops presented by various community leaders.
The Beautillion experience proved especially meaningful for Marray Napue, student council president and a football and track letterman at East High School. “I will always be grateful to the ladies of Jack and Jill for how kind they were to me. I am growing up without a mother, and they just accepted me and provided so much care and support. Because of them, I was able to have the experience of knowing what it’s like to have a mother.”
There’s so much more to know about the 2008 Beautillion, and I’ve got it all in my Seen First blog:
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost
