1996 Lilac Princesses
Patricia Weddle Shadle Park
“Cheerleading is my life,” said Patricia Weddle.
At Shadle Park High School, cheerleading is a full-time deal for Weddle, 17. Like other Shadle cheerleaders, Weddle was out almost five nights a week, cheering for everything from wrestling to the discus.
“It reflects my personality most of anything,” said Weddle, peppy as a pup.
“She was the peace-maker on the squad,” said Shadle cheerleading advisor Staci Vesneske. “She wants everyone to be happy and everyone to get along.”
But Weddle’s life ended with basketball season, as a new group of cheerleaders took over. She now has more time for a job at McDonalds, school work and Lilac functions.
A three-year member of the Shadle chorale and two-year member of the National Honor Choir, Weddle has sung at public engagements like funerals.
She walks Bloomsday with her mom and is a Hoopfest volunteer. She has participated in the last four Bloomsdays.
This fall, she plans to enroll at Eastern Washington University and would like to pursue a career in dental hygiene.
Laura Hindman Northwest Christian
Sheltered by the how-ya-doin’ Deer Park community and religious parents, Laura Hindman got a lifetime of catch-up during the two years she has spent doing volunteer work at the Union Gospel Mission.
She serves food at the homeless shelter and works with people at the Carlile Care Center, a government-run poor house.
“I feel like I have lived this sheltered life in a Christian home, Christian school,” said Hindman, 18. “Especially in a small town, you hear about things. But this gets you on a one-on-one level with them.”
Her volunteer work has given Hindman got first-hand lessons in Christian compassion, helping her to that the homeless are not that far removed from her life.
“People are people, and they have always had different opportunities,” said Hindman. “Everyone has the same needs and desires. It’s taught me not to focus on outward things.”
Involved with the homeless shelters, school leadership and varsity softball, Hindman was unsure if she wanted to be a Lilac princess. “At first, I really didn’t want to win. It’s a pretty big time commitment,” said Hindman.
But she realized she would be exposed to even more people and lifestyles. “It’s so much fun to meet people, see different things,” Hindman said.
She plans to go to Washington State University and major in clinical psychology and history.
Tanesha Ross North Central
Tanesha Ross was asked to sing at the somber funeral of Patricia Gordon, the 46-year-old mother of two who committed suicide by jumping off the Paulsen Center. To overcome the emotions caused by the tragic death, Ross took a deep breath and empathized.
“It was just so sad. I thought, what would she want now,” said Ross.
A singer for most of her 18 years, Ross has started singing at funerals and weddings in addition to being in North Central’s choir.
“I want to sing like myself, but I like Whitney Houston,” said Ross.
Her singing time is cut by time spent at Seafirst Bank. She participates in a program that gives low-income students an internship and $10,000 toward college tuition.
She is being trained to do increasingly complex work, moving from customer service to being a bank teller. The work, she says, limits her socializing, but is worth it.
Advisors in the program monitor Ross’s grades and tutor her in advanced biology when she needs it. Reading is also a hobby. “I love Ellen G. White,” she said.
She can continue working for Seafirst while in college. Ross plans to attend Washington State University, the University of Washington or Seattle’s Cornish Institute of the Arts. She plans to focus on music or business.
Angie Boyd Gonzaga Prep
Angie Boyd’s life is filled with the sounds of school, cheers and softball games.
When she needs a break from those noises, she hops on her mountain bike and rides to the Bowl and Pitcher in Riverside State Park, not far from her Indian Trail home.
“I like being out in nature, in the quiet where it’s relaxing,” said Boyd, 18.
Between rides, Boyd carries a 3.95 grade average at G-Prep, cheerleads and plays softball and works at the NorthTown Sears.
Most of her family, including all of her grandparents, lives in Spokane. Her family often goes to the Oregon Coast, which are very important trips for her.
She also coaches a girls softball team with her dad. “It’s so much fun to teach somebody something that you love to do,” said Boyd.
For a required community service class, she volunteers at a Logan low-income day care. A kid fan and aspiring elementary school teacher, Boyd learned lessons from the day care’s children.
“Working with kids teaches you a lot of patience and understanding,” said Boyd. “And working with kids who didn’t have as much as I had when I was young, it really makes you appreciate what you have and makes you want to help them out.”
Boyd plans to go the University of Portland and major in education.
Chelsie Cobb Lewis and Clark
Family values at the Cobb home usually involve food.
Every night during the week and every Sunday morning, Chelsie Cobb, her 15-year-old brother, Brady, and their parents huddle over the dinner table for a meal and bonding time.
“It gives us time to tell each other what we did during the day … why we are cranky or happy,” said Cobb, 18. “They want me to have a good family value.”
As a result, Cobb says good vibes abound in her house. She gets along well with Brady; the family cocker spaniel, Sadie, is fat and happy.
Her family is juxtaposed with the hopelessness she saw cleaning at the Union Gospel Mission.
“It was so sad. I didn’t know Spokane had as much poverty as it had,” said Cobb. “Now I think of Spokane as a big city with big city problems.”
Her next stop after graduation will be the University of Washington and an even bigger city. She wants to major in math or science, possibly for a degree in engineering.
In school, Cobb was a four-year member of the school’s award-winning drill team. Out of school, she worked at her parents’ deli in Manito Park. To participate in Lilac events, she’ll have to get lots of time off.
“I know they’ll understand, because they hired me,” said Cobb.
Suzanne Boyce University
Suzanne Boyce will be easy to spot among the dozen purple dresses at Lilac Queen coronation: she will be the one wearing the purple cast.
A few days after being crowned U-High’s princess, an opposing soccer player broke Boyce’s ankle. The bad break makes her trek to the dozens of mandatory Lilac events a lesson in patience.
On crutches for a week, Boyce, 18, now hobbles on a walking cast that is, miraculously, exactly the same height as her other leg in a heel.
“They pretty much match perfectly,” said Boyce, laughing.
Boyce shrugs off her bad luck, saying it goes with being an aggressive soccer player and sports enthusiast.
“I like taking chances and I’m outgoing,” said Boyce, which will get the cast off in early May.
Boyce says the worst part of the cast is not the impact it will have on her Lilac chances, but on her soccer prospects.
She may have to give up a “sweet” summer coaching job that would pay her $300 a week. She is still checking it out with her sponsor.
If she does stay in Spokane this summer, she will be among family. Five generations of Boyces have lived here; her great-great-great grandfather was one of Spokane’s founders.
She plays to go to one of a handful of four-year schools. She’s like to be a lawyer, or a history professor, or a physical therapist. “I don’t have to decide yet,” she said, laughing.
Sharma Shields Ferris
Between writing for The Spokesman-Review and preparing for an eventual novel, Sharma Shields has written the book on high school involvement.
Student body president, homecoming queen, yearbook editor and varsity soccer captain, Shields, 17, has been sent to Pullman for her insight on teens and to Washington, D.C., because of her leadership skills.
But writing, as it says on her Lilac princess profile, is “my number one passion!”
In a recent column in The Spokesman-Review’s Our Generation section, Shields offered some advice: “Always smooth your skirt as soon as you stand up … I mooned an entire Washington, D.C., mall for about 10 minutes (my skirt was caught in my backpack). Once a considerate woman finally told me of my exposed buttocks, I realized why everyone seemed to smile at me so brightly.”
The trip was her second to the nation’s capital. She visited once as a sophomore for a journalism convention; in January, she went for a leadership conference. “I like how it is always bustling, how everybody is always in a hurry,” said Shields.
A fan of 19th century female British writers, Shields is working through “Wuthering Heights” on her break. “I want to be novelist when I’m older, and not like a Harlequin romance type,” said Shields.
She plans to attend University of Washington or Northwest University and study literature and Spanish.
Stephanie Atwood Mead
For an admitted homebody, Stephanie Atwood has been in touch with lots for foreign lands.
Atwood organized a fall presentation for the foreign exchange students from Asia and Europe, showing the new students the tricks of survival at the 1,800-student school.
“I just like to meet lots of interesting people,” said Atwood, 17.
In spite of the foreign exposure, Atwood says she has little desire to travel. A good night, Atwood said, is one spent watching movies with her boyfriend.
She wants to go to attend nearby Eastern Washington University to become an elementary school teacher in the Spokane area.
“I’ve lived in Spokane most of my life,” said Atwood.
But the swirl of meetings and classes that have pulled her away from home since being crowned are exciting, she says.
“So far, I’ve probably introduced myself to 100 people,” said Atwood, her tiara perched on top of her curly brown hair.
A Chase Youth award winner, Atwood is involved with the First Church of the Nazarene and volunteers for the Spokane World Relief Organization office.
Sonia Galaviz East Valley
“I’m just going to change the world,” said Sonia Galaviz.
An aspiring lobbyist, the 18-year-old Galaviz breaks the politically apathetic Generation X stereotype. She is tracking state Legislature races through a government class and has a good line of populist rhetoric.
“We have had enough dishonest politicians,” said Galaviz, who has a 3.9 grade average. “If a bill is for the people, there will be enough people behind it to get it passed.”
She says her middle-class parents pay too much in taxes while upper-class taxpayers get off the hook. “We need to change it back to popular sovereignty - for the people, not for the rich.”
She is designing her college plans around the Boise State University political science department, which sponsors an internship with the Idaho Legislature.
In preparation for the political theater of the absurd, Galaviz acts in high school and Valley community theater groups.
She recently played a mother/ daughter role in “Night Mother,” at a regional high school competition at Idaho State University.
“It took so much out of me,” said Galaviz, who had to cry on stage. “I like dramatic roles. It’s more of a challenge for me to be serious throughout the play.”
Also a volleyball hitter in a recreational league, she picked up snowboarding while working as a waitress at Silver Mountain. “It’s so cool.” she said.
Abigail Palmer West Valley
Abigail Palmer learned the crippling cost of AIDS first-hand as a caregiver to a man dying of the disease.
Her mother, Linda, a physical therapist, arranged for Abigail to do chores for a 40-year-old man in the last stages of AIDS. The man died in December of 1994.
“I pretty much watched him die,” said Palmer, 18. “It was hard, but it was an education, to say the least. Seeing him fade away, I couldn’t do enough to help.
That experience helped her in some ways be more focused as a young adult. She has been doubling up credits at West Valley High and Spokane Community College and plans to get her two-year associate degree in the first year after graduation.
A business degree from Eastern Washington University comes after that on her plan, then her own beauty salon.
“It’ll be high class,” she assures. “I don’t want it to be ‘Steel Magnolias’.”
She was once working three jobs, but is now down to “just” 30 hours a week as an office clerk. At school, she has time to be editor of the yearbook, be involved with DECA, cheerleading and the dance team.
As a three-year member of the dance team, she has been in the Lilac parade before. “This year, I’m on the float and that just blows my mind,” said Palmer.
Amy Tenney Central Valley
Amy Ann Tenney has a slew of frequent flyer miles and is looking for more.
During a trip to London last spring for a cheerleading convention, Tenney discovered her traveling passion. “It was so awesome. I cried when I left,” said Tenney, 17.
She usually visits her cousins in Salt Lake City during the summer. She wants to continue to rack up the miles in college but isn’t sure where she wants to go.
Cheerleading has been her vocation through much of high school. She was on the varsity squad for fall and winter sports both her junior and senior years.
Tenney wants to carry her cheering enthusiasm to college. She plans to attend Brigham Young University-Hawaii.
College cheerleading interests her because of it’s athleticism. “It’s kind of like gymnastics,” said Tenney, a ballerina as a youth. “It’s really exciting.”
Although she knows she wants the Mormon atmosphere of BYU and the sun of Hawaii, Tenney’s plans are still fluid. On an princess information sheet asking for career directions, she wrote “horticulture,” scratched it out and wrote in “English.”
She wants to continue years of piano lessons by studying concert piano.
For community service, Tenney helped build a house with Habitat for Humanity. She laid floor moulding.
Danielle Negreiff Rogers
Danielle Negreiff’s qualifications for being the Rogers cheer squad’s “main flyer” are a hard head and a bon vivant spirit.
“I’m just the brave one, I guess,” said Negreiff, 18. Acrobatic stunts put her eight feet up and unreliable catchers nearly left her six feet under.
“When they drop me, I let them know,” she said.
After three years of cheering, Negreiff said many of her high school memories are tied to the cheer squad. Without it, there is a hole.
“That’s been my life for the last three years,” said Negreiff, the cheer squad captain. “It’s so time-consuming, now that it’s ended, everything is empty.”
She is looking for a job - “any job except the mall” - and is catching up on lost Danielle Steele reading.
In the fall, she plans to go to Spokane Falls Community College and get certified as a physical therapist’s assistant, which requires a two-year degree.
After a couple of years in the business, she wants to get a degree from Eastern Washington University and open her own physical therapy clinic.
“This year’s college is paid for,” said Negreiff. “Now I just need to get money for the next year.”
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