Apple Blossom Cotillion: ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun'

Cyndi Lauper’s 1980s hit “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” should have been the unofficial theme song for the 2015 Apple Blossom Cotillion.
http://www.rutlandherald.com/article/20150504/NEWS02/705049937

Apple Blossom Cotillion: ‘Girls Just Want to Have Fun” By Susan Smallheer Staff Writer | May 04,2015 Photo by Len Emery Alexis “Lexi” Roldan is crowned queen of the Cotillion on Saturday while her escort Devin Porter looks on. SPRINGFIELD — Cyndi Lauper’s 1980s hit “Girls Just Want To Have Fun” should have been the unofficial theme song for the 2015 Apple Blossom Cotillion. Alexis “Lexi” Roldan was crowned queen of the Cotillion Saturday, after a night of song and dance that attracted hundreds of people to Dressel Gym to watch the 20 high school girls and their escorts dance to 12 songs. The theme this year was “Totally ’80s.” Roldan, 18, a senior at Springfield High School, won the top award, a bouquet of red roses and a tiara, after an evening performing to an iPod full of songs from the 1980s, ranging from Lauper to Van Halen to Bruce Springsteen and Madonna, with a little Willie Nelson and Billy Joel for good measure. Also named to the queen’s court were Cassandra Howe, Jordan Phelps, Corinna Nichols and Kaitlyn Stokarski. The girls all wore coral pink gowns with flared skirts and fitted bodices, each accented by a rhinestone rose. The escorts were resplendent in white tuxedo jackets, black slacks and pink vests and ties. The 20 contestants and their escorts were paired with four future Cotillionaires, ranging in age from kindergarten to fourth grade, and the joint performances were a highlight of the evening. The elementary kids were dressed to match their older mentors, with the girls in similar coral pink gowns, and the boys in white jackets, pink vests and ties. Roldan also was awarded the “Director’s Choice Award,” demonstrating growth and leadership. Escort Matthew Whaley won the companion award for the escorts. Winning Miss Congeniality, selected by the fellow contestants, was Melissa Morin, and for the escorts, Cameron Chiesa. Roldan was crowned by last year’s queen, Meghan Courchesne, and women from the Apple Blossom court in 2004 helped giving the court members their bouquets and sashes. Roldan was quickly swallowed up by her large family in Springfield, and she posed for photos with her mother, Mary-Jo Knoras, her escort Devin Porter of Claremont, N.H., and other family members, including her sister Mariama Roldan, who was a contestant in 2011, and was in the queen’s court. “She won the Director’s Choice Award too,” said her mother, who posed for photos with her two Apple Blossom daughters, her niece Kiko Boyens, while her sister Kiki Boyens took photos. Roldan didn’t have much time for celebrating: She is a LNA in the emergency room at Springfield Hospital and she had to be at work Sunday morning, her mother said. The new queen hopes to attend Keene State College in Keene, N.H., and study pre-med, with dreams of becoming a pediatrician. The evening started off with a “mash up” of 1980s songs, that included costume changes, 1980s prom dresses, long slingy pearl necklaces for “Material Girl,” and gold lamé pants for the high school escorts, or blue jeans and white shirts for a Bruce Springsteen number. This year’s show was directed by Pam Shaughnessy, Kyla White and Carrie Jewell. Larry Kraft was master of ceremonies. The cotillion is a fundraiser for Springfield Hospital and Springfield Medical Care Systems. Roldan and the 19 other senior girls also were graded on interviews conducted earlier Saturday by the five judges for the cotillion. Other contestants included Maygan Daly, Brooke Holl, Chelsea McAllister, Alyssa Lucius, Ashley Vandenburgh, Breanna Vittum, Madisyn Watson, Rachel Hawkins, Anissa Giard, Nicole Patterson, Blair Crowley, Mariah Carroll, Bryne-Marie Sidney, Melissa Morin and Ryeleigh McCarthy-Clark.