“I feel like she’s accomplished so much. I want to present her for the community to see,” the Harrison Twp. resident said before listing her daughter’s achievements, including a “fabulous score on her ACT” and several leadership positions at Carroll High School.
Jori Turner will be following in the footsteps of her mother and other family members when she is presented at the Dayton Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority’s annual event at the Dayton Convention Center, 22 E. Fifth St., at 7 p.m. Tickets are $25 each or $40 per couple. They are available through today, April 15.
Twenty-three girls in pearls will be showcased, said Susan Warren, the event’s chairwoman.
“We just have some powerhouse young ladies,” she said, noting that the girls demonstrate community service, have good moral standing and academic achievement.
A tradition since 1949, the program comes with a $500 fee and includes various educational opportunities, such as college preparedness, cyber-safety and public speaking.
Sapphire Thomas, 18, of Meadowdale High School, said the program is a rite of passage that prepares young women for adulthood.
“You’re not the little girl you use to be,” the future Skidmore College student said. “We are not going to be babied. Our parents are not going to be there.”
Through the ball, the sorority has presented scholarship awards in excess of $400,000.
Donisha Swain, a 17-year-old Trotwood-Madison High School student, said that at first she wanted to be a debutante because it looked fun.
“Now I see it as a great opportunity,” she said. “You meet a great group of girls.”
Swain, who plans to study biochemistry at Ohio State University, said she is inspired by the women of Delta Sigma Theta and plans to pledge the sorority.
For her part, Jori Turner, who plans to attend either Ohio State or Vanderbilt University, said that the ball is about more than girls dancing in pretty dresses.
“It shows we are the cream of the crop and we all have something to bring to our community,” she said.
Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2384 or arobinson@Dayton DailyNews.com.
How to go
What: 61st annual Debutante Ball
Who: Dayton Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta sorority
Where: Dayton Convention Center, 22 E. Fifth St.
When: 7 p.m. to midnight Friday, April 16
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