Heading off to college — especially to such highly regarded institutes of higher learning as , and — can be quite the adventure.
But for debutantes Annika Backes, Audrey O’Brien and Meg Stolberg, the world became their classroom as they elected to take a gap year before resuming formal studies. They were among the 30 young women presented Monday night at the 59th Denver Debutante Ball. Chaired by Meg Nichols and held at the , the ball is a fundraiser for
Backes, who’d been an honor student at East High School, is using her gap year to further her career as a model, walking fashion runways in Europe, Asia and New York.
O’Brien, who is nationally ranked for slalom and giant slalom, is a member of the and is traveling the world to compete. After graduating with honors from Kent Denver School, Stolberg headed to South America to volunteer with .
In keeping with tradition, as each deb’s name was called by master of ceremonies Newell Grant, she descended the hotel’s grand staircase on the arm of her father to curtsy before a receiving line made up of Nichols and her husband, Ed; ball co-chair Missy Eliot and her husband, John; honorary chairwoman Sharon Martin and her husband, Lanny; and Nancy and Bernard Schotters. Nancy Schotters is a past chair of the botanic gardens board.
The debutantes each have two escorts, and a sweet touch this year came when Rachel Robinson asked her grandfather, retired Robinson Dairy chief Dick Robinson, to be one of hers. Rachel attends and recently had the honor of having one of her designs — an Elizabethan gown made from Coca-Cola cans — displayed at the .
Others in the debutante Class of 2014, and their colleges, were:
Madison Alexander, Vanderbilt; Julie Austin, San Diego State University; Jessica Barclay, Southern Methodist University; Carrie Deline, Loyola Marymount; Chloe Dikeou, Denison University; Harriet Duke, Hamilton College; Suzanne Duke, Bates College; Early Ferguson, Elon University; Hanna Ferguson, University of Denver; Sophia Fox, University of California Santa Barbara; Elizabeth Francis, ; Anna Gibson, University of Colorado-Boulder; Rachel Hanley, Loyola Marymount; Sarah Hawkey, Elon University; Julia Hickey, University of Texas.
Morgan Hutchison, CU-Boulder; Ellery Jones, Harvard; Caroline Law, Boston College; Katherine Law, Texas Christian University; Morgan McGonagle, Dartmouth; Emily Nicholson, Temple University; Elizabeth Padgett, University of Arkansas; Caroline Roddy, University of Georgia; Victoria Vanderpoel, Pomona College; Isley Walker, ; and Nicole Welty, Texas Christian.
Additional information about the debs and the ball can be found in the Mile High Style blog:
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joannedavidson
