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Young women hope for title, scholarship

By MARY JANE PARK
Published February 9, 2005

ST. PETERSBURG - Fourteen young women from Pinellas County are in the Sungoddess Court for the 2005 Progress Energy St. Petersburg Festival of States.

They and their respective schools are as follows:

Sarah Bennett, Brittney Brock, Julie Cunningham and Kristin Eckert, Florida State University; Christina Casadonte, Emory University; Sarah Denison, University of South Florida; Ashlee Dreyer, University of Kentucky; Jacqueline Pace, Allyson Tolbert, Ashlyn Wier and Jaclyn Wier, University of Florida; Ashley Patterson and Chelsea Silverstein, Boston University; and Amelia Rosseter, St. Petersburg College.

A committee of Suncoasters, the civic organization that produces the festival, chose the court from a field of 38 women between the ages of 19 and 21.

Festival dates are April 1-10. Members of the Sungoddess Court will participate in numerous activities associated with the annual celebration.

For the first time, the Sungoddess will receive $4,500 in scholarship money. Bayfront Health System contributed an initial $2,500 to establish the grant and agreed to match up to $1,000 in additional contributions; the Downtown St. Petersburg Rotary Club gave $1,000 to the scholarship program.

Alicia Billington, a student at Cornell University, is the current Sungoddess; former St. Petersburg Mayor David Fischer is the current Mr. Sun.

The 2005 Coronation Ball, where this year's Sungoddess and Mr. or Ms. Sun will be announced, is scheduled April 1 in the St. Petersburg Coliseum.

[Last modified February 9, 2005, 00:43:19]