Role Model: Having One to Being One

 In the fall of my eighth grade year, my transition from childhood to adulthood was solidified by my accomplishment of being crowned Junior Princess of Inver Grove Heights 2011.  This position that I held in my community helped advance my communication skills with children and adults and aided me in becoming more comfortable in public speaking and general forums in which small talk was utilized.  A pivotal moment in my experience as Junior Princess happened during a community event in which the royal court went around to different neighborhoods and participated in activities with kids of all ages. 

In one of the neighborhoods the other princesses and I visited, there was a little girl completely clothed in princess attire.  She so badly wanted to be a princess that when we arrived, she stood in awe; I and my fellow princesses were super stars in her eyes.  I bent down to her level to engage her in a conversation, and she was shy, but her eyes were not; they were fixated on the sparkling crown that I had on.  Making this realization, I interrupted my own attempts at conversing with her and simply asked her, “Do you want to try it on?”  After I asked her, her eyes sparkled brighter than my crown ever would as she shyly but excitedly responded, “Yes.”  I removed the crown from my head and placed it on hers.  During this exchange, the girl’s mother was watching as her daughter was “crowned,” and I thought I saw her eyes begin to water especially when the girl said, “Mommy! I’m a princess!” When I received my crown back, the little girl still looked at me in awe, but now, perhaps, with a small part of motivation, to someday have her own crown. The motivation I believe I saw really helped me figure out what we offered the community.  This is the most concrete memory I have of my experience as Junior Princess of Inver Grove Heights, and possibly the best explanation for what the program offers to the community: a group of young women who have shown the ability to go beyond the exterior self to reveal what is truly beautiful on the inside of every individual – proving that everyone is a role model to someone else. We showed that to be yourself is the most beautiful attribute to have, instead of being someone you are not.   As the crowned ladies of the program, we were both real-life princesses and examples of refined, mature women whom each little girl could strive one day to become.

This incident perfectly encompasses my transition from childhood to adulthood.  I realized that, in childhood, you have role models that you want to be and look up to.  In adulthood, you are the role model that others look to be and ask advice from.  I had become the role model that others want to follow, and with that, came more responsibilities and a greater awareness of who I was as a person and what others thought of me.  Today, I still carry with me the experiences I had as a community ambassador, reaching out to those who are struggling with being themselves comfortably and providing the public the best version of me.  I do this now in hopes that someone will develop the drive and motivation to become an extraordinary role model herself.

Marnie Rechtzigel

Inver Grove Heights Junior Princess 2011