Wednesday, August 17, 2005

Everybody cheer for Prime Beef Princess contestant

The daughter of friends of mine is in the final running for Prime Beef Princess, & I'm hoping for their sake, she will be in the front Princess' car during the Prime Beef Festival parade. From this article in the Review Atlas (which very kindly prints my weekly column, at no cost to me): "Seventeen high school girls will take to the stage and compete for the title of 2005 Warren County Prime Beef Princess on Saturday, September 3."

One of the contestants is Mary Johnston:

"The 16-year-old daughter of Betsy and Dick Johnston, Mary Johnston, is a student at Monmouth/Roseville High School.

While at MRHS, Mary has been involved in Latin, Spirit and Science Clubs, Student Council and the prom committee. Mary is also involved in softball and basketball and has participated in volleyball. At age 13, she and her Destination Imagination team received first place at regional, first at state and 16th at the international competition at the University of Tennessee.

Attaining Academic Achievement throughout high school, Mary, who is sponsored by the VFW, has been a member of the Monmouth Civic Orchestra for six years, plays in the Arc Angelo String Trio and Monmouth Civic Quartet.

She attends Immaculate Conception Church and has hobbies of oil painting, playing the guitar, electric and acoustic violin and, spending time with friends and family.

Mary plans to attend a four-year college to double-major in pre-law and international business.

This contestant's talent will include playing two selections on the electric violin."

Mary is a nice, very bright young woman, and I must say I think Dick and Betsy have done a bang-up job so far of providing her with a solid upbringing. Of course, I may be biased. Mary has, after all, studied Latin. Nobody who studies Latin can be all bad. Even after they've forgotten most of what they learned:

Amo, amas, amat.
I can't remember what.

But I can remember that there's not much cash payout for winning this pageant, and I'm pretty sure "Prime Beef Princess" isn't going to impress a lot of people when it gets included in a resume or a college app. This is strictly a labor of love for Dick and Betsy.

Cross your fingers for the Johnstons. At least, cross 'em when you're not typing.

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