Mountain Views News, Sierra Madre Edition [Pasadena] Saturday, December 16, 2017

Mountain View News Saturday, December 16, 2017 
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Mountain View News Saturday, December 16, 2017 
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Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis 


“Each princess has a unique story to tell that inspires 
and empowers girls with virtues of integrity, 


dreams of fantasy and fairytales, 

compassion, hope, honor, kindness, 
discovery and love.” Disney Princesses 

I had the most wonderful experience last Saturday: 
I met our Sierra Madre Rose Princesses! And let me 
tell you, friends and neighbors, that’s not the easiest 
thing in the world to do. These girls are busy! They 
are also simply splendid... lovely, yes, but so very 
accomplished already. We met at the Rose Float 
barn, up there behind the swimming pool park. 

Our float, entitled, “Chivalry” is coming along 
beautifully, by the way, and it’s going to be the best 
ever. The lady dragon is about ready to be flower 
bedecked and all you people out there who say to 
yourself, “that might be sort of fun, working on the 
float,” you’re absolutely right, it will be fun...so plan 
to go! 

Princess Amy Stapenhorst has worked on the Sierra 
Madre float the last seven years and put in at least 
200 volunteer hours creating one beautiful float 
after another. In addition to her float decorating 
activities, Amy is a junior at Westridge and would 
love to be a Theater Arts major at USC. She’s already 
participated in a number of productions at her school 
including “Mary Poppins” in the role of Jane Banks, 
and Shakespeare’s “As You Like It” as Celia. And she 
directs, which impressed me. Being the writer of the 
book and song lyrics for three musicals, all of which 
have been presented in various places around the 
southland, I have had moments when I was called 
upon to direct... a call which would have been better 
left unanswered as I’m really impatient and not 
good at that at all. Amy has my admiration as she 
has directed “Almost Maine” at the Westridge Black 
Box Theater with a cast of 18 and will be directing 
“The Wizard of Oz” in March. Amy serves as the 
service rep for her grade, where opportunities for 
service with various non-profits are explored. She 
was part of a bake sale with proceeds – they raised 
over $530.00! - going to help victims of Hurricane 
Harvey. Amy has been in Advanced Dance and 
before that, gymnastics for five years. She’s in AP 
History and English classes and has spent her 
summers in various theater programs. 

“A true princess is authentic, courageous, honest, 
kind, sweet, tenacious and brave.” 

Princess Emily Verdin is a senior at Alverno 
High School and she has her eye on Cal State San 
Francisco, planning to study film and photography. 
She admires friends who have already followed 
their passion and produced their own short films. 
Emily, like Amy, is interested in directing and she 
has written a film script and is hoping to get it 
produced. Emily has three older brothers, one in 
college, one an artist and the third is a musician, a 
drummer whose group has opened for Smashing 
Pumpkins and toured Europe with the group. She 
did hair and makeup for a recent production and is 

planning to audition for the Winter Musical. Emily 
has also played the role of Amber – she’s the mean 
girl – in a production of “Hairspray.” Playing the 
“not so nice” person was a lot of fun, she says, and 
I expect she’ll be looking for more of those roles in 
the future. Emily loves to travel and she’s been all 
over the place, especially mentioning Barcelona and 
New York. 

Princess Petra Shair is a Junior at Pasadena High 
School and is thinking college in Oregon or 
Arizona. She has her eye on the medical field, 
specifically to graduate as a Physician’s Assistant. 
Petra plays soccer with the PHS team and is in 
Orchesis Dance. She plays piano and ukulele, being 
a piano student since she was five years old. She’s in 
the National Honor Society and has participated in 
Global Leadership Adventures and mentioned time 
spent in Costa Rica where her team volunteered in 
little villages and planted coffee plants to give the 
village residents a new source of income. She also 
worked on a soccer field there to make it a better, 
safer place to play. Petra is another traveler, having 
visited France, Germany and a little closer to home, 
Oregon and Indiana. Petra has a younger sister and 
is obviously providing a great example to her. 

Our fourth princess, Emma Allen is a senior at 
Pasadena High School and is planning to spend the 
next year at PCC while she decides what direction 
she wants to go. She loves the art of Illustration and 
is in AP Art at school. She’s ventured into graphic 
arts, too, having created t-shirts for a band and 
selling them. Emma is also in the National Honors 
Society and has worked with the Lions Club in 
their Lions International doing volunteer work. 
She spent Thanksgiving Day helping the Salvation 
Army deliver meals to about 50 homes. Emma 
has participated in the Hugh O’Brien Leadership 
Seminars both here and in Chicago, coming away 
from these conferences feeling more confident in 
herself and more interested in community service 
involvement. She’s another theater lover, having 
been in “Mary Poppins” and “Bye Bye Birdie” this 
past year, just for fun. Emma has a younger brother 
and sister. 

Each of our Princesses must be a Sierra Madre 
resident and have no less than a 3.0 GPA. I’m sure all 
four of our young women are well above that. Each 
of these girls is an inspiration to me and meeting 
them is one of the highlights of my year. I’m looking 
forward to seeing them riding down Colorado Blvd. 
on “Chivalry!” 

My book page: Amazon.com: Deanne Davis

 “Star of Wonder – A Christmas Story”
Is available there. This is a wonderful Christmas 
Love Story...trust me!
Star of Wonder the CD is now on TuneCore! Take 
a look! 
Blog: www.authordeanne.com 
Follow me on Twitter, too! https://twitter.com/@
playwrightdd 


SIERRA MADRE ROSE FLOAT 
ASSOCIATION 
NEEDS YOUR HELP! 


SMRFA is also looking for VOLUNTEERS!
Volunteers are needed to help with a wide variety 
of tasks including people who can run errands 
and help with sales. 

For more information on how you can help, contact Bonnie Colcher, at volunteers@
smrosefloat.org or leave a message at the float barn (626-355-7005)
and include your name, phone number and how you would like to get involved. 


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com