Wenatchee Valley has had the tradition of awarding three senior ladies with crowns to represent our Wenatchee Valley. The 107th Apple Blossom coronation night was on Feb.14 or also known as valentines day is when those girls got their crown. Crowned was Queen Brielle Precht, Princess Kaylee Pearsons are both from Eastmont and Wenatchee High Schools very own Parker Averi was also awarded with a crown as a princess.
In order to get the crown, they had to go through a long process of being top 10 candidates for a couple months. They attend multiple etiquette, public speaking and speech classes to be on that stage. The start of their day was interviews, then a run through and finally it was coronation night. They started at seven at the packed Performing Art Center. Each of the top 10 ladies walked out and introduced themselves to the crowd and soon followed with the speeches. One by one they all got their chance to respond to the prompt, This I promise you.
After all the ladies spoke next was the improved questions. They each answered the three questions and shortly after it was now time for the judges to pick royalty and award the ladies with not only their crowns but a 5,000 dollar scholarship for each princess and 10,000 for the queen.
Last year’s royalty Queen Ella Johnson and Princesses Daeja Carlson and Yasmine Perez stepped onto the stage and thanked everyone one last time for their time with the crown. They took the crowns off their heads then honored everyone one and themselves by lifting their head and placed it on the newly awarded ladies.
Each lovely lady was asked the question, what does it mean to you to represent wenatchee with the crown? Royalty all share their views on what it means to them.
“I am so grateful to be able to represent the valley and to give back again, especially before I leave for college,” Pearsons said.
“To me it is a super big honor to be able to interact with the community and represent Apple Blossom as well as the Valley! It is a super huge privilege that I feel so grateful to have,” Precht said.
“To me it means representing the good of Wenatchee and the people that make Wenatchee such a welcoming place. The crown doesn’t just make me a princess, it makes me a leader. It makes me someone who little kids should look up to and adults should be proud of. I plan to take good care of this opportunity and wear the crown with humility, grace and gratitude,” Averi said.
Wearing the crown for the valley means more just being royalty, it takes dedication, time management and hard work for these ladies to wear it and going through the 10 ten process was challenging and nerve racking. They all share an inside on what it was like to go through it.
“I was so shocked, I remember my first thought was ‘What? No way!’ It felt really surreal,” Precht said.
“I was so overwhelmed with shock and emotion. It took my brain a second to register my name being called and then I broke into tears of joy and disbelief. All of the top 10 girls were great candidates, I felt so blessed to be chosen,” Averi said.
“It was an incredible moment with so many emotions! Sadness of being done with the top 10 process, joy for starting something new, gratitude for being selected and much more,” Pearsons said.
Being a queen or a princess can always have its challenges and struggles. Especially for these ladies since they are also students, athletes, leaders on top of wearing that crown on their head. Life can be challenging and everyone has their own struggles. However we get an inside on what their challenge was as they share their feelings with the truth behind the crown, makeup and dresses.
“The hardest part is finding time to take care of yourself. There is a lot of time and effort that goes into being a princess, and that’s on top of school, sports, family, etc. Taking care of yourself is extremely important, but it is often put off because we think we are “too busy”. Although it’s the hardest part, it’s definitely doable. Some of the Apple Blossom events even help you with it! We have scheduled work outs, hair treatment, and guest speakers that give us great life advice,” Averi said.
“The time commitment is big, but definitely worth it,” Pearson said.
“The time management,” Precht said.
Even though the weight of the crown can hang down, the passion, desire, determination and grit for wanting it in the first place is what drove these ladies to want it in the first place. Way before they had the crown they were just little girls wishing they could do that some day. Rooted in their values they share what their favorite memory was about our valley and why they love wearing the crowns.
“I love how connected we are to both our community and nature and I love getting to meet with and inspire kids,” Pearsons said.
“The people! We have such a welcoming, kind community. It’s not rare to meet someone random at a coffee shop and become friends within 20 minutes. The people here have amazing stories. My favorite part is the other two selected royalty. Brielle and Kaylee are just the best. We became so close, so quick. We’ve shared laughs, tears, clothes, and hotel beds together all in the first week. They are so easy to talk to and always have your back. They are wonderful women and I’m so blessed to do this with them,” Averi said.
“The people and community, I love that everywhere you go you know someone! I love getting the opportunity to serve, connect, and inspire my community! I think it is such a cool and unique privilege,” Precht said.
As these ladies step into the newly awarded responsibility they carry themselves with pride and shine bright for our community and Wenatchee Valley to see and ready for this next year of new beginnings, experiences and excitement for the future and lastly share what they learned about themselves during this whole experience.
“I learned that I don’t really think before I speak, and it’s kind of a strength. A lot of people say “think before you speak” but in a situation like this, that is not the case. When you are in a room with 5 judges shooting questions at you, you don’t want to waste any time. I learned that I am able to give quick, insightful questions without really thinking. I think I was able to do this because the questions I was being asked were about myself and my opinions. Turns out I know myself better than I thought,” Averi said.
“I learned I am capable of picking up new skills and trying new things,” Pearsons said.
“I think how unorganized I was and how much I needed to get myself organized and change my habits,” Precht said.
