Scholar named 2011 Kentucky Derby Princess
McConnell Scholar Trisha Maclin, at center, is a 2011 Kentucky Derby Festival Princess
Trisha is a senior at the University of Louisville majoring in English and Political Science with a minor in Spanish. She was named the university's most outstanding junior student.
She joins four others on the Kentucky Derby Princess Royal Court, including:
- Caitlin Carter of Big Spring, Ky., is a junior majoring in Agriculture/Mass Communications at Western Kentucky University. She is a reporter for the College Heights Herald newspaper in Bowling Green and is a member of the Western Kentucky University Honors/College Program.
- Katie Huber of Glasgow, Ky., is a graduate student attending the University of Louisville School of Medicine. She graduated Summa Cum Laude from the University of Kentucky, where she was an Otis A. Singletary Scholarship recipient.
- Laura Don Oliver of Princeton, Ky., is a senior majoring in Chemistry at the University of Louisville. She is a University of Louisville Guaranteed Entrance into Medical School student and a Bonner Leader of the Year
- Lauren Smith of Lexington, Ky., is a senior majoring in Political Science/Economics at the University of Kentucky. She is a University of Kentucky Student Government Association Senator and an Otis A. Singletary Scholar.
The court will represent the Derby Festival and the city of Louisville as official ambassadors for the springtime tradition of the Derby Festival. They will attend nearly every official Derby Festival event beginning with the Your Community Bank Poster Premiere on January 13 to their appearance in the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade on May 5. In addition, they will attend the Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs and make visits to schools to discuss the importance of volunteerism.
One of the five women will be crowned the Derby Festival Queen by a spin-of-the-wheel at the annual Fillies Derby Ball presented by LG&E on April 15 at the Galt House East Grand Ballroom. Each woman will receive a $2,000 scholarship ($1,000 from the Fillies and $1,000 from the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation).
Candidates for the Princess Program must maintain a minimum 3.0 grade-point average and are selected by a panel of four out-of-state judges. Criteria for selection includes knowledge of the Derby Festival, poise, intelligence, personality and campus and community involvement. The Princesses were selected from a pool of more than 100 applicants.
The first Derby Festival Princess was crowned in 1957, the second year of the Festival. Previous Princesses have included former Kentucky Governor Martha Layne Collins and Gail Gorski, the first female pilot ever hired by United Airlines. Former McConnell Scholars Kara Samuel, Kathy Annear and Charis Botelho were also Princesses.