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Angelique Harden (left) of Chancellor High and Tempia Thomas of James Monroe High check their makeup before being presented to society at the 2005 Debutante Ball.
Nicole Carter of Caroline High receives help with her dress before the ball. Twenty girls from area high schools participated
LaShawn Lee (left) of Chancellor High School is escorted by Roger Ford. Whitney Ackers (right) of Courtland High School is escorted
Miss Debutante Whitney Hinnant (left) has fun with ReKita Keys as they wait for the 2005 Alpha Kappa Alpha Debutante Ball to begin.
LaShawn Lee does a much-practiced curtsy after being presented to the crowd during the ball. |
By CATHY DYSON
HITNEY HINNANT arrived at the ball dressed like a celebrity, with dark glasses and a silky white gown.
All eyes--and digital cameras--were aimed her way. She smiled, posed and hugged all those who kissed her cheek under the glare of the spotlights.
Then the formal events ended, and Whitney had the chance to exhale.
She placed her flower bouquet in a chair, took a bite of cheesecake from a relative's plate and headed to the dance floor for the "Electric Slide."
Whitney had enjoyed the star treatment, but now she was ready to party.
The Massaponax High School senior was crowned Miss Debutante at the 11th annual ball for area students.
When the tiara landed on her head, it ended hours of waiting, weeks of preparation and months of fundraising.
The only person who might have been happier than Whitney was her mother, Sha.
"I told everybody that I'm going to do a happy dance tonight because it's over," said the mom, as she joined her daughter for some sliding.
There were lots of smiles--and proud parents--in the ballroom of the Holiday Inn Select in Central Park last Saturday night. More than 400 friends, relatives and church members gathered as 20 young ladies were presented to society.
The debutante process and ball were sponsored by Xi Upsilon Omega, the local chapter of the Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority.
Many of the debutantes wore bridal gowns with beaded bodices or twinkling tiaras that sparkled in the spotlight.
Each girl took the stage, alone, trying not to look nervous as an announcer read her extensive list of accomplishments.
Then, each did what they'd all dreaded: a curtsy in front of the crowd. For months, the girls had practiced the proper way to bend knees and lower upper bodies.
Each made it through the formal presentations. The girls and their handsomely dressed escorts also danced to the minuet without any glitches.
But many of the debutantes had a major case of butterflies before they were introduced, caused by more than tight corsets.
"I'm so nervous, I can't stop my stomach," said Jameka Samuel, as the girls waited backstage.
"I'm about to die," said Nicole Carter.
"Anybody got a Twix bar?" asked Jasmine Holmes.
'You win everything'In the midst of the pre-ball jitters sat the young lady later named Miss Debutante.
Whitney Hinnant wore dark shades into the room, where the girls waited as their friends and family dined in the banquet hall.
The debutantes had practiced and eaten earlier, before they slipped into their gowns, painted liner on their eyelids and applied glitter to their bare shoulders.
In recent weeks, the students from high schools throughout the Fredericksburg area had spent a lot of time together and with the sorority members who guided them. They practiced for hours the night before the ball and ended up being at the Holiday Inn more than six hours on Saturday before they ever stepped on stage.
That's why Whitney Hinnant needed dark glasses: to block out the distractions. She was trying to focus, to put everything else out of her mind, and her "blockers," as she called them, seemed to help.
So did talking.
As Whitney declared in her bio, she's blessed "with the gift of gab" and has no problem getting to know others.
She's the president of her senior class, a peer mediator and an athletic trainer. She comes across as a self-confident 17-year-old.
Although she clearly wasn't too comfortable in a floor-length, sleeveless gown. She raised her skirt to show the others the boxer shorts she wore under her dress. She also joked that a tailor had to add a strip of material to the front of the dress to keep her cleavage in place when she curtsied.
Some of the girls planned to keep their gowns--and maybe get married in them--but Whitney had other plans for hers. She planned to sell it on eBay.
"I'm not into the whole formal thing," she said. "That's not me."
She does own a few tiaras, though. She and fellow debutante Shauniece Jackson talked in October about her collection.
Whitney was a prom princess in the spring and homecoming queen this fall.
"You win everything," Shauniece said.
"Don't say that," Whitney answered, as if she was afraid she might jinx herself.
'They're winners already'Whitney earned the debutante crown by raising the most money, almost $10,000. The daughter of Harold and Sha Hinnant of Spotsylvania County sponsored an oldies dance at Fawn Lake and collected dozens of ads for the debutantes' souvenir journal.
She had 44 pages of congratulations in the book--more than twice as many as anyone else.
Her runners-up were Kristina Bundy with $9,021; Whitney Ackers, $7,120; and LaShawn Lee, $6,476.
The debutantes picked Asia Pleasants as Miss Congeniality.
Asia dealt with the jitters by dancing the night away, before she ever got to the formal dance floor. Whenever she seemed nervous, she broke into song and started wiggling, saying, "Shimmy, shimmy."
Half of the money the girls raised will go toward their scholarships. The sorority will use the other half for future balls and educational activities.
Gwen Jones, one of three sorority members who chaired the event, introduced the debutante court at the end of the evening. She purposely called them top fund-raisers, not winners.
She told the audience they'd heard the accomplishments of the young ladies and their plans for the future.
"Based on their bios and their goals," she said, "you know they're winners already."
To reach CATHY DYSON:
Email: cdyson@freelancestar.com
