La Cañada High School senior Rocky Moore, 18, is dating a princess.
His girlfriend, Michelle Louise Van Wyk, also a student at La Cañada High School, was one of seven princesses named to the 2010 Rose Court on Monday.
The first thing he did when he reunited with her post-announcement was lift her up in the air to give her a kiss as friends — cheering and hollering — surrounded the couple.
“I was just amazed,” said Moore, as his classmates — mostly girls — continued to cheer and holler at the top of their lungs behind him. Moore was red in the face due to all the attention he was suddenly receiving.
“She really deserved it,” Moore said. “I said, being in the top 25 is winning already. It’s really fulfilling to hear her name. I’m really excited for her.”
“I think it’s just going be more fun just being on the float,” said Van Wyk. “You see those girls so many times, and [now] it’s like you; I can’t believe it.”
Van Wyk’s father, David, was all but holding back tears and trembling Monday.
“It’s remarkable for me,” said the elder Van Wyk. “I’ve told people before, I grew up as a kid on the East Coast, watching the parade when I was a child. One of the highlights, of course, was when the Rose Court always was in the parade, never thinking that so many years later that my daughter would be on the court. It’s amazing.”
Along with Van Wyk, two Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy students — Natalie Anne Innocenzi of Arcadia and Katherine Margarita Hernández of Pasadena — will be on the seven-member court.
Also on the court are June Ko, 17, a student at Arcadia High School; Lauren Samantha Rogers, 17, a student at Blair High School; Kinsey Elizabeth Stuart, 18, a student at Pasadena City College; and Ashley Renee Thaxton, 17, a student at John Marshall Fundamental High School.
Innocenzi grew up attending the Rose Parade with her aunt, even spending the night on the parade route her freshman year.
“It was freezing,” she says. “I probably won’t do that again, but it was fun.”
Seeing her classmates try out for the Rose Court inspired Innocenzi to do the same.
“I don’t know what’s going to happen,” she said.
