When someone says “Fab Four,” you think of the Beatles. The “Fab Five,” though?
In Denver social circles, that would be the quintet of young ladies presented at the 2010 Sigma Pearls Cotillion: Hilery Crosby, Natasha Dickson, Simone Marsh, LaShay McNulty and Martha Wolday.
Dressed in identical white gowns created for the occasion by local designer Marcel A. Smith, the debs curtsied at a dinner ceremony that was chaired by Kathy Callum and held last Sunday at the Renaissance Denver Hotel. Callum’s co-chairs were Kathy Jackson and Angela Pearce; Mary Etta Curtis was the commentator.
This is the sixth year that Theta Zeta Sigma alumnae chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority has hosted the cotillion. Debutantes are chosen for their academic achievement, community service and leadership potential.
Hilery Crosby, who was crowned queen of the cotillion, is a senior at Kent Denver School and will attend Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Ga. She is co-president of Kent’s Student Union for Diversity Awareness and is a four-time delegate to the National Association of Independent Schools’ Student Diversity Leadership conferences.
Martha Wolday’s parents, Workneh Belay and Tabereh Beyene, immigrated to America from Ethiopia 19 years ago, and the Kent Denver senior with a 3.335 grade point average credits them for her academic drive. “In Ethiopia, they didn’t have the educational opportunities that I do here,” Wolday said, “and so they really drilled it into me that I should study hard and not waste the opportunities I was given.” Wolday — accepted by all 10 colleges to which she applied — will attend Colorado College on a full-ride scholarship.
Gateway High School senior Simone Marsh has two sisters who preceded her as Sigma Gamma Rho debs: Brandi, presented in 2001, and Courtney, in 2008. Simone plans to major in sociology at Colorado State University.
After graduating from Rangeview High, Natasha Dickson plans to double-major in pre-law and journalism at the University of Colorado at Boulder and then join the Peace Corps.
LaShay McNulty, who maintains a 3.283 grade point average at Cherokee Trail High School and is active in Zion Baptist Church, will study psychology at Arizona State University.
By their very nature, debutante balls are elegant affairs. But they also validate all the good things the debutantes have done while sending them off with much encouragement.
“The significance of your coming out this evening signifies the beauty of growing from girls to young women of good standing,” Callum said. “We expect you to make your lives meaningful, so make each day better than the one before it, keep a positive attitude no matter what others may say or do, and remember that like a beautiful butterfly, you can fly.”
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, and GetItWrite on Twitter
