Courting the goddesses
Twenty Pinellas County high school students have been named to the Junior Sungoddess Court, a tradition in St. Petersburg since 1955 that is part of the city’s Festival of States.

The scholarship program is run by the Suncoasters, a civic organization that has produced the Festival of States since 1956. The program was established to recognize high school girls in Pinellas County who are active in school and community, maintain good academic standing and are committed to service. Court members represent the Suncoasters and St. Petersburg as goodwill ambassadors throughout the year. One court member will be selected as Junior Sungoddess March 2, and she and two runners-up will receive more than $5,000 in scholarships and awards.

The students chosen this year are: Margaret Dalessio, St. Petersburg Catholic High; Kara Delemeester, Osceola High; Rachel Franzek, St. Petersburg High; Summer Giberson, Pinellas Park High; Diana Gorman, St. Petersburg High; Zoe Green, St. Petersburg High; Alexandra Jesaitis, St. Petersburg Catholic High; Ashley Klein, Osceola High; Alicia Marie Klingensmith, St. Petersburg High; Haley Lehmann, Largo High; Julia Lescarbeau, Admiral Farragut Academy; Katherine McNees, Shorecrest Preparatory; Gabrielle Montes, St. Petersburg High; Danielle Price, Osceola High; Noelle Rutland, St. Petersburg High; Taylor Scott, Admiral Farragut Academy; Jessica Serra, Gibbs High; Morgan Leigh Shettle, St. Petersburg High; Hannah Stein, Shorecrest Preparatory; and Carli Walko, Northeast High.

Help Belle help girls
Belle of the Ball Project, which provides dance dresses to in-need high school girls in Pinellas and Hillsborough counties, is looking for volunteers to help with its prom season distribution.  On March 24, April 14 and 21, and May 5 and 12 at the group’s Seminole Mall retail store, Belle of the Ball is looking for volunteers for a variety of positions, including greeters and sign-in people, personal shoppers to help girls select their dresses, sign out persons and back-room people to accept donations. If you are interested in helping, contact volunteerbelle.info@gmail.com. For more information, go to belleoftheballproject.com and click “about” to reach volunteer section.