It will be another month or so before Natasha Crawford finishes high school, yet that hasn’t stopped her from getting a head start on a career in hospitality management.
The East High School senior, one of 32 young women to be presented at the 60th Denver Debutante Ball, began learning the ropes by working as a front desk associate and concierge at the Oxford Hotel. This month she transitions to the nearby Crawford Hotel to serve as a Great Hall ambassador in Denver’s historic Union Station.
And, yes, it’s no coincidence that her last name is the same as her new workplace. The Crawford Hotel is named for her grandmother, preservationist Dana Crawford, who also gave new life to the Oxford.
Crawford and the 31 others who will be presented at the Dec. 22 ball were introduced at an afternoon tea organized by Barbara Knight and her daughter, Heather, and held at Sharon and Lanny Martin’s home in the Museum Residences.
The Denver Debutante Ball is a fundraiser for Denver Botanic Gardens. Meg Nichols is the chairwoman and says that in addition to raising money, the purpose of the event is to recognize the debs for their accomplishments to date and to offer mentorship as they “establish themselves in their college communities, in business or the profession of their choice.”
The 2015 debs also include Heritage High senior Hannah McDaniel, a Boettcher Foundation scholarship finalist who has received scholarship offers from six universities; East’s student body president Adeline Glass; Grace Imhoff, who will play NCAA Division I field hockey at American University in Washington, D.C., after her graduation from Kent Denver School; Nina O’Brien, a world-ranked alpine ski racer planning to attend Dartmouth College after completing studies at Burke Mountain Academy; and the great-granddaughters of early-day ball chair Janet Smith Phipps: Karen Nitcher of Lewis Palmer High School and Burgandi Owens from Cherry Creek High School.
Read more about them — and fellow debs Mc-Kenna Adams, Abigail Clark, Anne Clinton, Sarah Dinegar, India English, Caroline Gallagher, Madeline Hantman, Jessica Grewe, Tempel Haifleigh, Nicole Kerman, Alexis Linhardt, Kienan Linhardt, Lindsay Magill, Ralsey Miller, Alexandra Pruter, Caroline Raeder, Grace Rainaldi, Caroline Reisch, Laura Robinson, Eliza Samuelson, Elizabeth Smedley, Marigny Strauss, Jordan Trigg, Jennifer Trigg and Grace Wilkins — in the Mile High Style blog:
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@ or
