On opening night of SnowFest! 2011, the year-long reign of Roxana Cabrera, the first Latina SnowFest! Queen, will come to an end. Last year, Cabrera sold $4,200 worth of raffle tickets to be crowned queen. She also prepared a resume, wrote a winning essay, and went through an extensive interview — all for a $500 scholarship. The scholarship, however, was not the main reason Cabrera worked so hard. She ran for SnowFest! Queen to raise money and support for a local nonprofit, the Adventure Risk Challenge program.
In 2009, Cabrera attended the 40-day ARC program, which exposes high school youth to the outdoors and encourages literacy improvement. ‘They took me to places that I didn’t even know existed, even though I have lived here [in Tahoe] all my life,’ said Cabrera. ‘It was the first time I became a leader. It changed my life.’
Cabrera decided to run for SnowFest! Queen so that she could give back to the program that changed her life and the lives of so many other kids. ‘Roxanna Cabrera is one of our most inspiring students,’ said Shelley Gorin, program director for ARC. ‘During her campaign for SnowFest! Queen, she showed us how motivated she was to help our organization.’
For every $1 SnowFest! raffle ticket sold, half goes to the nonprofit organization that the candidate is supporting and the other half to SnowFest!. While the interview, essay, grade point average, and the candidate’s poise are all important factors in deciding who becomes SnowFest! Queen, the number of tickets sold by the candidate is by far the most important factor, and for Cabrera, the hardest part. ‘You have to get out there and use your public speaking skills to sell them,’ she says. Cabrera sold tickets over Christmas break and Ski-Skate Week. She sold them at the Blue Agave, where she works in Tahoe City, and at just about every business in her hometown of Kings Beach. After spending one entire day selling tickets, Cabrera only managed to sell $300. But in the end, the sales kept adding up. ‘It totally consumed my life,’ Cabrera said.
When it came time for the interview, Cabrera hit it out of the park. After she talked about the powerful impact of the Adventure Risk Challenge program on her life, there wasn’t a dry eye in the room. When she told the interviewers whom she most admired, she didn’t mention a celebrity, but instead spoke of her friend from high school who recently died of cancer. Her friend never gave up, and that made an impression on Cabrera. SnowFest! Director Ruth Schnabel, who has interviewed many SnowFest! queens throughout her decades-long involvement with the winter festival, lights up when you ask her about Cabrera. ‘She is really amazing,’ she said. Despite Cabrera’s successful interview, her win still came down to working hard and selling lots and lots of tickets. The entire Kings Beach community, from businesses to individuals, supported Cabrera. ‘Even those who doubted that I would win wanted to help me out anyway because they could see how hard I was trying,’ said Cabrera.
When they made the winning announcement at the annual SnowFest! queen ceremony, ‘I was shocked. I couldn’t believe it,’ said Cabrera. The crowning ceremony was fun, she noted, but it was tinged with sadness because ‘my mom was my number one supporter, but she couldn’t get out of work to see me win.’ Cabrera is proud to have become the first Latina SnowFest! Queen. ‘I really opened up the eyes of the Latina girls in the area. They began to realize that anything was possible.’ And SnowFest! Queen is just the beginning. Cabrera is anxiously awaiting word from her first choice for college — Stanford.
‘If anybody deserves to go to Stanford, Roxana does,’ said Schnabel. ‘This is a kid who will make a difference. She is already making a difference at North Tahoe High School by encouraging other Hispanic kids to become more involved at the school.’
Five girls are competing to be crowned this year’s SnowFest! Queen. They include Kenna Bolt, supporting the North Tahoe Boosters; Madison Ordway, the Truckee North Tahoe Transportation Management Agency; Sonia Blanco, Adventure Risk Challenge; Nicole Phelan, American Association of University Women; and Shelby Foster, the North Tahoe Fire Department. ‘The queen competition is a real image booster for these girls,’ said Schnabel.
So, if you are approached by one of these hard-working girls to buy SnowFest! raffle tickets, do her and your community a favor by pulling out your wallet.
~ Tim Hauserman loves writing about inspiring Tahoe people. One of his proudest moments was watching his daughter Hannah become SnowFest! Queen in 2009. Comment on this story at moonshineink.com.
