Schools’ princesses not chosen for 2015 Rose Queen

Madison Elaine Triplett, 17, is crowned as the 97th Rose Queen by Tournament of Roses President Richard Chinen at a ceremony on Tuesday night, October 21, 2014 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Plaza in Pasadena, Calif. Rose Queen Madison Elaine Triplett attends John Marshall Fundamental High School and lives in Altadena. (Keely Ernst/Courier)

Full stomachs and comfortable clothes were first priority for both Rose Court Princesses from Pasadena City College, Veronica Sara Mejia and Mackenzie Joy Byers, after welcoming their new Rose Queen on Wednesday night.

“’Are you hungry?,’” laughs Mejia, on the first words from her parents and family following the ceremony. She and her family went to Panda Inn.

“I took off my shoes, I got in nice PJs and I ate In-N-Out!,” Byers said. “It was a very relieved moment.”

Madison Elaine Triplett, 17,of Altadena, was crowned the 97th Rose Queen for the 2015 Pasadena Tournament of Roses at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium Plaza amongst hundreds of family, friends and Rose Parade fans, on Tuesday.

Triplett, the daughter of Reggie and Jouslynn Triplett, attends John Marshall Fundamental High School. An active participant in student government at Marshall, the Pasadena City Youth Council, and the Black Student Union, she spoke decisively and clearly on her wish to create a nonprofit to educate minorities on financial literacy.

Triplett, Byers, and Mejia graced the stage with Princesses Gabrielle Ann Current, 18, of Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, Bergen Louise Onufer, 17, of Mayfield Senior School, Simona K. Shao, 17, of Westridge School, and Emily Alicia Olivas Stoker, 17, of Temple City High School.

Once announced by Pasadena Tournament of Roses President Richard Chinen, the new Rose Queen and her Court were escorted offstage to prepare and change, while a brief video was shown featuring the process of choosing the seven members of the royal court out of over 700 Pasadena-area applicants.

For the presentation, the Royal Court was escorted back on stage, with the Rose Princesses dressed in midnight blue Tadashi Shoji gowns that complimented Triplett’s own in shimmering white. President Chinen then lead Triplett through a brief pledge and the new Rose Queen was adorned with the coveted Mikimoto crown that features “more than 600 cultured pearls and six carats of diamonds.”

The rest of the year will be a very busy one for the new Royal Court as Ambassadors for the Pasadena Rose Parade.

“The Royal Court participates in anywhere in the neighborhood of a 100 events before January 31^st ,” said Andrea Fox, a tournament spokeswoman. Their first event will be this weekend for the Club 21^: Together Is Better 2014 Walk-a-Thon in at Pasadena’s Central Park.