Owl Club president Theron Labrie summed it up nicely when he described the 2009 debutantes as “Simply outstanding … (they’re) young women who have brought academic achievements, athletic accomplishments and community service to new heights.”
The 23 debs — Morgan Arline, Kamilah Branche, Ariel Canada, Aunjanique Collier, Arielle Dixon, Rasheedah Fletcher, Shakari Grigsby, Destiny Hardney, Zuri House, Vanessa Johnson, Krystal Kelley, Nia Lewis, Danielle Midgyett, Asha Patrick, Corsica Perkins, Zuri Randell, Dominique Shinault, Raven-Syamone Theus, Kandace Thomas, Brittany Thompson, Arista Ware, Breanna Washington and Taeshana Washington — include two Daniels Scholars, two salutatorians, an El Pomar scholar, and the recipient of a full-ride scholarship to Colorado College.
The debutante class of 2009 also included student council officers, varsity cheerleaders, the drum major for her school’s marching band, and the founder of a dance troupe for “big and beautiful” students at George Washington High School.
Come fall, the debs will be off to such prestigious schools as Spelman, Tuskegee, Hampton, Emory, Loyola and Colorado School of Mines with majors to include biology, electrical engineering, computer science and chemistry.
This was the 58th time the Owl Club has staged a debutante ball; it was chaired by members Ronald Washington and Reginald Norman and held June 6 at the Marriott City Center. Terri Gentry was the narrator.
Shakari Grigsby and Destiny Hardney, with grade point averages of 4.26 and 4.125, respectively, were the class salutatorians; they’re also from families with debutante histories.
Grigsby’s grandmother, Patricia Pinson, is a former debutante, while Hardney’s sisters, Marquita and Tiyana, made their debuts in 2002 and 2006.
For Kandace Thomas, a graduate of Cherry Creek High School who plans to major in communications or political science at DePaul University, winning awards for debate and playing competitive volleyball were pieces of cake compared with the debutante requirement of learning to waltz.
“That was hard,” she admits, “but I’m glad I learned how.”
Ariel Canada and Breanna Washington are the Daniels Fund scholars; Canada, a fourth-generation member of New Hope Baptist Church who was senior class president at East, will major in electrical engineering at Iowa State, and Washington, who was Overland’s senior class secretary and captain of the varsity cheerleading squad, is off to Spelman to prepare for a career in veterinary medicine.
Zuri Randell, the El Pomar Scholar, is a graduate of Colorado Academy who has performed community service work in Costa Rica, Alaska and Washington, D.C. She is president of the Shorter AME Church youth choir and a 10-year member of Girl Scouts.
Read more about each deb in my Seen First blog: blogs.denverpost
Society editor Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, GetItWrite on Twitter
