By Glypie Grider
Though it’s more than three months away, one University of Louisville student is already gearing up for the 2006 Kentucky Derby. Sowmya Srinivasan, 22, was crowned one of five Kentucky Derby Festival Princesses earlier this month, a role which requires her to act as an official ambassador for the Derby Festival and the city of Louisville during the weeks leading up to the Derby.
“I was extremely excited about winning. There were lots of amazing girls at the finalist interviews, and I know that it must have been a difficult decision,” Srinivasan said. The questions were tough, she said, with topics ranging from the Derby Festival and Louisville history to current events and personal achievements.
Srinivasan, of Prospect, Ky., was inspired to run for Derby Festival Princess in her senior year of college by her friend, who was the 1993 Derby Queen.
“I have been to events of the Derby Festival since I was really young, but I never realized the magnitude of the festival. Louisville’s Derby Festival is really one of the biggest festivals in the country, and I feel really fortunate to get the opportunity to be a part of that,” she said.
But Srinivasan admitted it’s not easy being a princess. “[It’s] not all about wearing the tiara and making occasional appearances at the Derby events,” she said.
“We have [aspiring] doctors, attorneys, a dentist even,” Derby Festival CEO/President Michael E. Berry told The Courier-Journal. “Although it could be, this is not a beauty pageant.”
Srinivasan is familiar with royalty – at least at U of L, where she was named 2004 Homecoming Queen and 2005 Ms. Cardinal. As a KDF Princess, though, her “reign” will be challenging.
She will attend nearly every official Derby Festival event beginning with a poster premier on Thursday all the way through her appearance in the Republic Bank Pegasus Parade on May 4. She will also attend the Kentucky Oaks and the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs, make visits to schools to discuss volunteerism and appear with Willard Scott on NBC’s “The Today Show.”
With more than 70 events on her schedule, Srinivasan still has to make time to squeeze in her other responsibilities, including serving as vice president of Services for the Student Government Association and acting as a resident director for University of Louisville Properties.
“Even though this is a lot of pressure on top of an already-hectic semester, I am so excited to get this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be an ambassador for the festival and to represent U of L,” she said.
Srinivasan, a Music and Pre-med major, is also the founder of the Asian-American Association at U of L and a GEMS (Guaranteed Entrance to Medical School) Scholar.
She joins four other graduating seniors from across the state on the Derby court. The names of the five princesses were announced at a press conference held earlier this month, selected from an initial field of roughly 60 applicants. Applicants were graded on “knowledge of the Derby Festival, poise, intelligence, personality and campus and community involvement,” according to a festival press release.
Alternates Erin Faulkner and Renea Steele, both U of L students, were chosen first and second princess alternates, respectively.
One of the five princesses will be crowned Derby Festival Queen at the annual Fillies’ Derby Ball on April 21 at the Galt House by spin-of-the-wheel. Each princess will receive a $1,000 scholarship for participating.
