Posted by: Carly Brooks, 2009 Tulip Court
Thursday February 4, 2010
Hello everyone!
We've been extremely busy throughout the past couple of months. December brought the Albany Winter Festival; a freezing but fun day where we were fortunate to meet Radio Disney singer, Savannah Outen. Also, the girls at Girls Inc. bravely performed the "Party in the USA" dance in front of all of their peers at their Holiday party. Watching them dance was particularly exciting for us because it was a depiction of their gained confidence, one of the original goals we set when beginning the program.
Although we have done lots of exciting and meaningful things throughout the year, January has so far been my favorite month. We've begun to focus our time extensively on our literacy program at Girls Inc., as well as beginning work at 15 Love. 15 Love is a program targeted at high school students that combines learning with tennis. Since we are all in college or recently graduated, our role in the program is to offer advice to the students and work on college-oriented activities to help them prepare for this exciting new chapter in their lives. In January, Steph and I also got to attend one of our favorite literacy programs, the Salvation Army Literacy night for a Spaghetti themed night.
Additionally, the girls and I have taken time to reflect together on the many events we have attended throughout the year. We've bonded over making scrap books of pictures taken at events and even had an international dinner. We have also been working very hard on our final initiative for the year; a fundraiser for the Tulip Fund. We only have a few months left before a new Queen and Court will take over our reign, so we're all very excited for the Fundraiser as our last big event as the 2009 Tulip Queen and Court. Our Fundraiser will be a fun night that will help raise money to support future literacy initiatives and charitable events. We hope you all can attend!
Posted by: Juliana Hernandez, 2009 Tulip Queen
Tuesday January 26, 2010
As the days past, my year as Tulip Queen is nearing the finish line and the Tulip Court and I realized this is the time to reflect and think about accomplishing our goals. We want to work strong to help Albany, not only for ourselves, but to make a difference in the lives of children. We also want to raise money for our Tulip foundation for the future queens and Courts. The Court and I have decided to organize a fundraiser to raise money for our Tulip Fund, guaranteeing that the legacy of past, present and future Tulip Queens and Courts will last forever. Our plan is to host the celebration in March, so stay tuned because we hope to see you all there!
Posted by: Colleen Cavanaugh, 2009 Tulip Court
Monday December 14, 2009
Hi everyone! To say that the Court and I have been busy is truly an understatement! Busy, however, is not a bad thing! We've been very active over the past few weeks, especially running our literacy program, "Be Your Own Tulip", with Girls INC. We've been meeting with the same group of girls since late September. It has truly been a rewarding experience getting to know each girl in the program. We just finished choreographing a dance with the girls to "Party in the USA", which they will perform at their annual Holiday party this Thursday. To see them excited about coming to hang out with us every week is so rewarding. I hope that we are impacting their lives as much as they're impacting ours.
Outside of our literacy program, we've been attending many events! At the beginning of November, we attended the Miss Festival of Nations pageant at the Egg. Stephanie and I helped to emcee the festival, and Juliana was a judge for the pageant! It was amazing seeing all of the different cultures that were represented, and the food was GREAT!
We also attended a River Rats Game with the kids from the Salvation Army Literacy Night! It was great to relax with them and enjoy the game. The Dutch Settlers also invited the Court and I to their annual tea. It was a great afternoon!
One of our most enjoyable events so far would have to be The Little d Award event. This award was presented to Lois Lowry for her children's book, The Willoughbys, in honor of Denise McCoy. It was a privilege to attend this event with the mayor, as well as meet a favorite author of mine!
In mid-November, we were guests at the Hudson 400 Spelling Bee. Boy, can those kids spell! They may have been younger than all of us girls, however, they certainly would have beaten us in a spelling match any day.
The last event we attended was the Albany Tree Lighting. Although it felt like spring, it certainly put me in the Christmas spirit! City Hall is decorated beautifully for the Holidays. If you have a chance to stop by, it's definitely worth it!
As for me, I'm finishing my last week of the semester at Saint Rose! I can't wait to be home for a few weeks to spend some much needed time with my family and see my high school friends that have been away at school! I love how the holidays can bring people together.
I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe holiday! See you all in 2010!!
Love Always,
Colleen
Posted by: Rosa Richburg, 2009 Tulip Court
Friday October 9, 2009
It is unbelievable how quickly the year is going by; we are almost halfway through our reign!! These last two months have been very productive for us because we developed and initiated our literacy program, produced and distributed our first newsletter, while at the same volunteering at numerous events. Saturday, September 19th we attended the Hispanic Heritage Festival, which turned out to be a very successful celebration of the Hispanic culture. There was a float designated for the parade princesses and also the Tulip Queen and Court. We participated in the parade and then we also attempted face painting. This time around with the help of our mentor Amy we were able to make display sheets so kids could select what they wanted from our choices.
Saturday, September 26th we attended the Hudson 400 Event, which is a celebration of the 400th anniversary of the voyage that Henry Hudson made up the Hudson River. At this event we were in the kid’s zone making paper sailboats. This craft may sound simple, however it was very complex but by the end of the day we were professionals!!
The last event we recently attended was last Saturday, October 3rd Arts for Life Benefit which was held to support the foundation, Ben’s Jammin’ Art Project in memory of Benjamin Cocco. Benjamin was an artistically talented young boy whom was hit by a car earlier this year. I found it to be amazing what his family was doing in the community. Although this tragedy struck the family, they used it as a way to give opportunities to other children who are artistically talented but don’t have the funds to practice their craft. We were located in the kid’s crafts area and our craft for this event was making crowns. We also used pipe cleaners to make flowers, people, robots, and butterflies. Overall we have absolutely had our hands full between events and the literacy program. Our pace will not slow down! I look forward to seeing everyone at the Columbus Festival this Saturday, October 10th. Make sure to stop by the kid’s zone and make a mask with us!!!
Posted by: Stephanie Herold, 2009 Tulip Court
Tuesday September 15, 2009
Hey again everyone!!! Now that school has officially begun, we have been extremely busy. To start off the fall we attended Reach out Saint Rose. Reach out St. Rose is when St. Rose dedicates one day to community service. Students apply to volunteer at one of the sixty locations around the capital area. The response to this was amazing. The gym at St. Rose was packed with students more than excited to volunteer. It was great to see so many people to eager to help others.
After Reach out St. Rose, we attended the Albany Jazz Festival located at the riverfront. The event included many wonderful performers. To compliment the festive mood, the ladies and I made tambourines with the children in the kid’s zone. Also located in the kid’s zone were an excellent face painter and even a caricature artist! We enjoyed the entertainment as well by all getting caricatures done of ourselves. Juliana was reading a book to a doting little boy, Carly was Ariel from The Little Mermaid, Colleen was Cinderella, Rose was the princess from The Princess and the Frog, and I was The Cat in the Hat reading to a group of kids. The day was very enjoyable.
The next day we attended the Teal Run and Walk for Ovarian Cancer. This event was created eight years ago. The first year they had about 100 people participate. Now, eight years later, there are 800 people who registered to run or walk at the event. The fight for Ovarian Cancer has grown leaps and bounds year after year. The people at this event; survivors, helpers, and family members are so close knit and determined to fight this deadly disease. This year, everyone together raised $100,000 for the fight against Ovarian Cancer. The survivors are truly inspirational. To do our part we helped out with raffles and of course cheered on all of the runners and walkers as they courageously crossed the finish line.