^ o rtlan Ò ©bserUCr
April 15. 2009
PaSeA3
Five Rose Court Schools Put on Notice
After falling
short on
applicants
B\ J ake T homas
T he P or i land O ksekv er
The Rose Festival Court has been a
Hie hallmark tradition in Portland for
decades. Girls clamored to be selected
as their high school's representative
to the court and for a chance to win
scholarship money, a new wardrobe,
anu connections that could help them
excel in life.
However, this year has been differ
ent on a number of fronts.
The Rose Festival revamped the ap
plication process, which has hit some
schools off guard. As a result, five
Portland schools were placed on no
tice this year for failing to muster up
five qualified applicants. The schools
are M adison, M arshall, Jefferson,
Benson and Lincoln.
If any of these schools can't come
up with five qualified applicants next
year, the school will lose its automatic
spot on the court and individuals from
those schools will have to compete
in a new at-large metro position.
The at-large spot grew the number
of princesses to 15 this year. It also
generated 69 qualified applications
from 18 suburban schools.
So why such little interest in the
Princesses on the Rose Festival Court line up Saturday during a dance practice and court orientation session.
five Portland schools.
"The reasons varied,” said Matt
Shelby, spokesperson for Portland
Public Schools.
Shelby said that many students
have part-time jobs and other activi
ties that made them shy away from
the big commitment that comes with
competing in the court system. "Be
ing a Rose Festival princess wasn’t
all that relevant in their lives,” he said.
However, changes in the applica
tion process itself caused the schools
to stumble, according to the girls rep
resenting them.
Last year, the Rose Festival as
sembled a taskforce to overhaul how
princesses were selected and it resulted
in sweeping changes.
Girls are no longer selected by a stu
dent vote, but by a panel of judges. It
also upped the grade point average to
a 3.0, required 20 hours of community
service, and an essay, among other re-,
quirements. The program is now largely
administered by the festival not the
schools.
Alisha Moreland-Capuia, who rep
resented Jefferson over a decade ago,
expressed concern about the changes,
telling the Portland Observer a year ago
that by expanding the court to subur
ban schools it would diminish its im
portance, and that the program’s suc
cess would hinge too much on how
well school administrators promoted
the program.
She also felt that widening the pool
to metro schools suggested to Port
land schools "that they're not good
enough."
Moreland-Capuia is now shocked
that so many schools were placed on
notice.
Although she couldn't quite put her
finger on souce of declineing inter
est, she said that the new require
ments may have had something to do
with it.
The girls representing the schools
on notice said that this year's princess
selection process was poorly promoted
and slowed by snow days, while at the
same time applicants were caught off
guard by the new rules.
"It was more of a popularity contest,
and now it's who could really present
themselves," said Mataya McNeil, the
current princess from Madison.
She said about 20 girls at her school
were interested in the court, but many
had forgotten about the deadline right
after winter break and didn't scramble
quick enough to get all their materials
in by the Jan. 9 deadline.
Cynthia Hams, principal of Jefferson,
agrees that the snow days slowed
down the promotion of the court. The
fact that the program is now largely run
outside of the school also caught
Jefferson off guard.
Leslie Goodlow-Baldwin, this year's
Rose Festival Court chair who helped
institute the new rules, said “Never in
a million years would I have thought
we'd have five schools that didn't make
the cut."
She said that she tried to get the
schools to get the ball rolling in Octo
ber, and is now encouraging schools
to hold an assembly the year before so
that they have ample time.
She also stated that the program is
not going to renegotiate the standards,
fb u t wants to work better with schools
in the future.
Surrender Means Second Chance for a Clean Slate
of their record and helps reha
bilitate them.
T he P ortland O bserver
“I feel like I’ve been in jail on
A n th o n y
D eW ayne
Cunningham walked what might the outside,” said Cunningham,
have been the longest one and as he stepped from a parking
garage, downtown. “It’s not fun
a half block of his life.
For six years, Cunningham at all. It’s tiring.”
“ You know I’m proud o f
had been on the run from drug
and weapons charges, as well you,” said Jay, who flanked him
as probation violations. But on while speaking to reporters.
Jay explained that Clean Slate
Monday, sick of never being
able to see his family and sleep receives inquires from thou
ing on couches, he turned him sands o f people w anting to
self in to authorities with the clear up non-violent criminal
and civil records. He said that
help of Project Clean Slate.
The initiative founded by lo there are plenty of people like
cal African-American business Cunningham who made some
man Roy Jay seeks to get people bad decisions or ended up at
like Cunningham back on track. the wrong place at the wrong
It’s run in conjunction with the time.
“We’re not talking about a
M ultnom ah C ounty D istrict
Attorney’s office among others, Bernard Madoff here," said Jay,
and helps people get their driv re fe re n c in g the d isg ra c e d
ers license back, expunge parts banker. “We’re talking about a
by J ake T homas
photo bv J ake T homas /T he P ortland O bserver
Project Clean Slate founder Roy Jay (left) accompanies
Anthony DeWayne Cunningham to the Multnomah County
Courthouse on Monday as Cunningham turns him self in to
clear up several outstanding warrants.
kid that really wants to change
his life.”
Jay stressed that the DA and
the courts will ultimately deter
mine what happens to people
like Cunningham, but said that
they will take it into account his
U rb a n L eag u e
W ELCOM
'
V
Bienvenidos
Workshops 12-2pm
• Resume Writing and
Interviewing: What Hiring
areer
Managers Look For
• Women If Color In the
sponsibility and do com m u
nity service.
“Don’t be scared. I’m going
to g e t a sm ile out o f you,”
laughed Jay in his booming
voice before turning southward
to w alk to the M ultnom ah
C ounty C o u rth o u se. “ You
don’t want to be doing no mug
shot.”
On the way. Jay laughed and
joked while slowly walking up
through the crow ded street.
Cunningham nervously fidg
eted with his cell phone before
disappearing into the court
house.
EAST PORTLAND
HOMEOWNERSHIP FAIR
■
I
of Portland
v o lu n te e r su rrender, and
pointed out that there is no pro
gram like it anywhere else in the
country.
“T hat’s because we live in
Portland, Oregon and think dif
ferent," he said.
Jay also em phasized that
people in program aren’t going
to have it easy.
,
“This is not the I’m going
to be your homey and you’re
going to get a drivers license
and everything’s going to be
fin e,” said Jay. People who
enroll in the program must
take a class on personal re
'
C h à o D ö n Q ui VP
flo 6 p o
noxanoea i b !
Saturday, April 18th, 2009
10:00 am to 2:00 pm
Kelly Elementary School
9030 SE Cooper St., Portland
workplace, surviving
and thriving
• Careers in
Transportation
• Job Hunting In a
Free raffle for a $4,000 home buyer's
assistance grant (day-of workshop required,see below*)
down market
• Energy Jobs
onnections
Bridges to Sustainable Jobs
Tuesday, April 21st, 10-4pm
Portland General Electric World Trade Center 2
Find that New Job or New Career at the Urban League of Portland’s 17th
Annual Career Connections Fair. Don’t miss this opportunity to meet face
to face with recruiters from Oregon and Washington's best companies.
Participating Companies Include: Health Care, High Tech, Banking, City Agen
cies, State & Federal government. Education, Legal, Nonprofit, SkilledTTechnical,
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DIRECTIONS:
121 SW Salmon St, on Bus (4 Fessenden from N. Portland, 9 Powell from SE
Powell, 14 Hawthorne from SE Hawthorne) & Max line (Yamhill District Max
Station)
For more information call: 503-280-2600
preregister ONLINE at http://ulpdx.org/jobfair
FREE ADMISSION
Home Buyer, Home Owner, & Foreclosure Prevention
Workshops (Vietnamese. Russian, Spanish, Cantonese, & Mandarin interpreters available)
Free Burgerville lunch, youth activities, and
raffle for prizes
Information on community organizations &
resources
Realtors, lenders, home buying counselors, &
businesses sharing their products & services
‘For grant rules & more information, visit www.rosecdc.org or
call Amie Diffenauer at 503-788-8052 x 105
»
Hosted by the Lents Homeownership Initiative Partners:
ROSE Community Development &
Kelly SUN Community School
Top Sponsors: Portland Development Commission, Bureau of Housing and Community
Development, Standard TV & Appliance, Burgerville, Univision, and
Tracy Brophy RE/MAX Equity Group, Inc