Jessica Hua has been selected to represent the metro district on the 15-member 2010 Rose Festival Court. The Aloha High School senior is only the second metro-area princess chosen since the Portland Rose Festival Foundation began allowing suburban students to participate in the Portland tradition.
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| Jessica Hua (left, posing with the Aloha High School Warrior mascot), is a 2010 Rose Festival metro-area representative. (AR Photo/Julie Stegeman) |
Seventeen-year-old Jessica was born in Vancouver, British Columbia; her parents immigrated to the area after fleeing the war in their homeland of Vietnam in the 1970s. Jessica and her younger brother Justin moved to Oregon when she was 11 years old to live with their aunt, Kiehanh Nguyen, who became their adopted mother. The move was a difficult time for her.
"I just felt I was leaving everyone behind, because I had to leave my mom and dad. It was really new and really terrifying because it was different over here," she said. "The area where we were growing up, it was heavily Asian populated. And coming here, it was sort of a shock to feel so different."
Jessica and her brother have other family in the area — several aunts and cousins — and one cousin in particular encouraged her to apply to be a member of the Rose Festival Court. "When she heard they opened it up to the metro district, she got really excited and told me to consider it," Jessica said. After a teacher sent an announcement about applying for the scholarship, she decided to pursue it.
Although she is active in several sports in school, including swimming and track, Jessica’s great love is water polo. The sport has become a tradition with her family, beginning with some of her older male cousins who live in the area.
Every year, the water polo team at Aloha High School participates as a group in the Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, which raises funds for and awareness of the fight against breast cancer. The event is dear to Jessica, who at age 11 lost her mother to the disease. This year, as the captain of the team, she was responsible for organizing the event for the close-knit group. "We all went together as a team," she said.
Her mother’s battle against breast cancer and a trip to Vietnam inspired Jessica to seek a degree in public health. Watching her mom when she was sick and "travelling to Vietnam to see how they don’t have anything, and feeling you want to change the world and have an impact on others" influenced her career path. She would like to be able to educate people about disease prevention and help keep them healthy.
"I want to travel to poor areas in the country, or even out of the country, and focus on health programs," she said. She is interested in joining the Peace Corps after completing her education.
Jessica is fluent in Vietnamese and speaks it at home with her family. She feels her heritage has opened her up to "so many different things. I can see situations from a different perspective."
When not busy with school or sports, Jessica enjoys baking. She likes to try recipes she finds on the internet — cookies, brownies, fruit tarts — and "just be creative with food and have the chance to share it with everyone, because they love when I bake," she said. Other favorite activities include travelling, playing piano, reading, and drawing.
Jessica is looking forward to her responsibilities as a Rose Festival ambassador and is especially excited to meet new people and see more of the state.
Rose Festival princesses represent their school and act as the "face of the Rose Festival" at many events in the community. The princesses attended the recent 82nd Avenue of Roses Parade and will spend the next month touring Oregon, meeting with community and business leaders, performing volunteer work, and participating in other activities. The Portland Rose Festival Foundation awards each court member a $3,500 scholarship, courtesy of The Randall Group.
To qualify for the Rose Festival Court, a candidate must be a full-time junior or senior at a 5A or 6A high school in Multnomah, Washington, or Clackamas county and have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0. Potential princesses are evaluated on leadership and scholastic achievement, school activities, civic involvement, volunteer projects, communication skills, and overall impression.
