Not once in the 60-year history of its debutante ball has the Owl Club of Denver relaxed its exacting standards for deciding who would be invited to curtsy.
Many are nominated — the 24 presented this year were winnowed from a pool of 139 — but if grades and other considerations aren’t what they should be, the honor goes to someone else, regardless of a family’s social standing.
The joy of being selected is palpable, and perhaps best expressed by Regis Jesuit High School track star Portia Gibbs-Williams. We asked what her lasting memory will be, and she replied: “The look on my mother’s face when she realized her little girl was gonna do it. It was priceless.”
It’s a high-tech world, though, and Maya Aggen, who’d been a Malone Scholar for each of her four years at Colorado Academy, incorporated social media in her response. “I’ve loved this experience so much. I’ve met so many wonderful new people and can’t believe all the friends I have on Facebook now.”
The ball, a black-tie dinner and dance chaired by Reginald Norman and Ron Washington, was held at the Marriott City Center.
Their wives, Karen Norman and Nina Washington, were the narrators, introducing a class that also included twins Amber and Christen Aldridge, Lauren Arline, Kayla Banks, Jordyn Brewer, Ashley Canada, Tayla Conley, Courtney Garrett, Olivia Goolsby, Shauntay Larson, Kara Locke, Zoe McNeal, Laura Moore, Jazmyne Peters, Mariah Stewart, Taylor Strickland, Kailyn Stuckey, Malyssa Washington, Sha’Quon Wake, Shannel Wise, Anna West and Dominique Williams.
Read more about them in my Seen First blog: .
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314 or jdavidson@denverpost.com; also, GetItWrite on Twitter
