On Mar. 12, 2025, Ida B. Wells High School’s Rose Princess was announced. Taking place in the school’s drama room, IBW students gathered to hear the grand reveal.
Laughter and smiles filled the room, but there was also a sense of anticipation and curiosity as to who would be crowned.
Erica Caldwell, the business manager and adviser for the Rose Court at IBW had the honor of opening and reading the envelope containing the news of who it would be. For the last 10 years, the tradition has been that nobody knows the name in the envelope until they are on the stage.
The new 2025 Rose Court Member who will represent the school is Sivan Safran, a dedicated senior at IBW. “She’s just really amazing and very well spoken and I think she’s going to represent our school in such a great way,” said Caldwell.
During a very special moment, all Rose Court candidates were given hand-arranged bouquets by the IBW leadership class, and Mackenzie Devereux, the IBW Rose Princess from 2024, personally crowned Safran.
During her acceptance speech, Safran addressed the audience, thanking everyone who helped her on her path and shining a light on her fellow candidates.
While it may seem like a fun competition, the process of becoming a Princess isn’t easy- every candidate who applies puts large amounts of time and effort into it.
Starting in late October every year, any female-identifying student in the greater Portland Metro area can apply to become part of the Rose Court. Each is required to have a 3.0 GPA or above and a certain amount of hours of community service; once they pass these requirements, aspiring candidates are sent to a board of judges for an interview.
Answering a prompt through a prepared, memorized speech, four students of that school are selected to move onto the next stage.
Caldwell has been an adviser for IBW for almost 18 years. She helps with communication between the Rose Festival and aspiring princesses as well as overseeing the Rose Princess selection process.
She has seen many ways the process has changed over time. In the past, the Rose Court Princesses were required to do a three-minute speech in front of their school during an assembly.
The assembly speech also required the Rose Court candidates to select an escort to accompany them.
The number of candidates has also changed over time. “In the 1980s… you would have 30, 40 young women that would go out for it. And now just getting three candidates is a challenge,” said Caldwell.
More recently, the process before the announcement has shifted to a digital focus. This year, the candidates described what the community meant to them in a video produced by the Guardian News Network (GNN).
Accompanying the video was a newsletter by Caldwell with more information about the candidates and the voting platform.
“It goes between the judges, they rate the three candidates based on their poise, their speech, their content and their delivery, and then they take the student vote,” said Caldwell.
The Rose Court panel of judges makes up two-thirds of the decision and the student vote makes up one-third.
While only one candidate can win, every student who runs for the court is unique and they aim to celebrate that.
Before the yearly crowning, Caldwell takes all the candidates to the Chart House for lunch before the announcement. “It’s really great to get to know all three candidates, just to talk to them about where they’re going to school, what their plans are… their favorite memory from their time at IBW,” said Caldwell.
Safran first came upon the opportunity when she was reading her emails. The idea of being a part of the Rose Festival hadn’t occurred to her until she saw the advertisement listing skills and characteristics — and many embodied her.
She decided to jump at the opportunity. Before applying she thought, “[I’ll] give it a shot. You never know, and even if [I] don’t get it, I learned so many valuable skills.”
Safran touched on the fact that many women face the mindset of all or nothing, having to previously achieve huge accomplishments before applying to become part of the Rose Court. It might be easy to be dissuaded, but Safran said, “Just keep pushing through and doing what you love and don’t listen to people who don’t support you and have your best interest in mind.”
Caldwell greatly encourages taking advantage of the opportunity and embracing the process. “I would like to see more women, female-identifying students, go out for Princess. You’re putting yourself out there because [there’s] only one winner, and they’re always amazing, but it is a great experience.”
The benefits of being on the Rose Court are a $3,500 scholarship, traveling around Oregon and tailored clothing for all the princesses.
Safran will pause school at the beginning of May and for between five to six weeks, she will tour Oregon with other chosen Princesses. “They get to go all over and learn about all the different communities of Oregon,” said Caldwell.
Though missing school and the overall process of being a Princess can be stressful at times, the Rose Court does work with you and makes sure all students can attend important school events.
Princesses also have someone to guide them. A professional mentor helps Rose Court members manage the role of being a Princess and also helps them look forward in their career path. “Every Rose Court member gets assigned a mentor that helps us through the process and teaches us leadership skills and…honing personal identity,” said Safran.
Princesses also get to meet other exemplary students from the Portland area. “It’s just nice to have close relationships [with] other people that you wouldn’t get the opportunity to, especially because it’s like all these like-minded girls and we just never had the opportunity to meet,” said Safran.
After being a part of the Rose Court, Safran plans to study in Oslo, Norway. Working to strengthen her Jewish roots and help with a Jewish leadership program, she will spend a gap year there and attend Barnard College of Columbia University after.
Whether through documentary filmmaking or fighting for people’s rights in the courtroom, she will continue fostering her communities and shedding light on underrepresented voices.
Safran wants to, “[Create] a culture, just having an impact where people support each other and people support each other’s dreams and ambitions and just less negativity in the world, and also… helping the world become a better place in any way that I can.”
