Dozens of former White Rock Youth Ambassadors are expected to converge on the city this June, when the current ambassador team plans to hold the first official reunion in the program’s nearly 60-year history.
This year’s ambassadors, headed by Miss White Rock Chloe Woodin, chose to organize the June 12 luncheon as their community project – an initiative ambassadors are tasked with each year.
“We wanted to do something with the history of the program,” Woodin said.
All former Miss White Rocks, princesses and ambassadors are invited to the event, and are being asked to send in photos or newspaper clippings from their reign.
“We’re hoping we can put together a scrapbook of all the Miss White Rocks,” Woodin said. “(We’ll) present it at the luncheon so everyone can look at it.”
Woodin and this year’s five ambassadors also plan to do some of their own research by digging through White Rock archives for materials.
They have already set up a Facebook page, which has been “a great tool” for tracking down past program participants.
“We just started contacting people recently,” Woodin said. “From all the people we have contacted, they want to come.”
The ambassadors hope to use the event to promote the program and fundraise, possibly by selling copies of the scrapbook. They also plan to pay tribute to the first Miss White Rock, Donna Steffen (nee Pugh), who died Jan. 7.
“We’re looking to contact her family and honour her in some way.”
More than anything, the reunion will be a chance for attendants to learn from one another.
“I think mostly it’s so people can reunite and talk to people they once knew and see where the program is now,” Woodin said.
“For me, personally, I think it’s just cool to see what the program was like for them and see what their experiences were and see if I can relate to that.”
Past ambassadors can receive information by emailing chloewoodin@live.com or visiting the event’s page on Facebook.