The Times - Serving Waitsburg, Dayton and the Touchet Valley

Whoo! January's almost over and I still can't remem- ber what year it is.

Yessir, February officially begins this Friday. Just an- other number to mess up on essay headings.

That makes this Saturday Groundhog Day. Or Candle- mas, to some people. Or, for a certain girl I know, corona- tion day.

Hannah Grant is (like me) a sophomore at Waitsburg High School who is (like me) active in Leo's Club and Knowledge Bowl and (also like me) expects to be recruited into the National Honor Society this February. Unlike me, however, she is also active in FFA and Youth in Government and probably several other student organi- zations that have slipped my mind. On top of all that, she plays basketball.

Hannah and I met when she transferred to WHS from DeSales during her freshman year. We were assigned to the same work groups in Health class with unnatural irregularity. It wasn't the teacher pulling strings, either, because the groups were randomly selected ev- ery single stinkin' time.

It wasn't long before we discovered that we had something else in common: We were both serving on a fair court.

At the time, I was a host- ess on the Columbia County Fair Court, while Hannah was a princess for the Pio- neer Posse in Milton-Freewater. I discovered that she was more than happy to exchange 'war stories' with me.

Don't get me wrong, being on a fair court was a wonderful experience that I wouldn't trade for anything. But sitting at the kitchen table at four in the morning while my mother doused my hair with spray starch and curled it with a device heated to such a high temperature that my hair sizzled (yes, sizzled, as loud as batter in a deep-fat fryer), wasn't a pleasant experience. But Hannah had been through it. In fact, she even had to put blonde highlights in her hair to change its chemical structure and make it easier to curl.

Besides all that, Hannah is a great person. She's smart, funny, kind, and very, very hard to dislike. She's a model student and a wonder- ful human being in general.

Hannah tried out for the Pioneer Posse court again this year. (The actual tryout was held last year, but it's this year's court. Confusing, right?) She was accepted, along with another girl who was a princess last year. They won't know which one of them is queen, however, until February 2. This Satur- day. Coronation day. I don't know where or at what time the coronation will take place, although I could make a reasonable guess. Of course, I'm rooting for Hannah to get the 'big crown', but it's anyone's guess how that'll work out. When I do find out the re- sults of the coronation (not that hard, as Hannah sits three seats away from me in Human Development), I'll make sure to pass them on.

It's people like Hannah who make WHS unique. People like Beka Adams, who's on another fair court. People like a certain bas- ketball player who's an exceptional shot as well as a big fan of Ray Bradbury. People like a junior I know who jumped into the Columbia River for charity. Those people - and many more - make WHS special.