Scott Swanson
Of The New Era
Sportsman’s Holiday Princess McKenzie Walker sees her participation on the court as a “fun way to get involved in the community.”
“I would also like to meet new people and make new friends,” she said.
Walker, 17, is one of six young women who are candidates to be chosen Sportsman’s Holiday queen for the festival, to be held July 7-9. The queen will be crowned July 6.
McKenzie, a junior at Sweet Home High School, is the daughter of Stan and Emily of Sweet Home. She has one older brother, Nic.
She was on the high school cheerleading squad as a freshman and took hula-dancing classes for three years. She joined the high school Concert Choir last year, in which she went to the state choir competition.
She spent last summer in Tokyo, Japan, staying with a friend who was an exchange student the previous year at Sweet Home High School.
This year she competed on the high school swim team and taught elementary school students how to swim.
One of her interests is being a role model for younger girls, particularly her boyfriend’s sister Paige, whom McKenzie says, she has adopted as “my little sister.”
“I alway try to set a good example of myself to everyone,” she said. “I can already tell I have been a positive role model for some of the kids in our community. Every time I go to a basketball game or school function , I always have some little girl coming up to me and saying, ‘Hey! You were my old swim teacher’ or ‘You’re that cheerleader that taught me how to dance.’ That proves to me that I have made some sort of difference in a child’s life and that makes me extremely happy. I hope that, through Sportsman’s Holiday Court, I can continue to do that.”
McKenzie says her goals are to graduate from high school next year and attend Linn-Benton Community College, where she plans to study dental hygiene. She would also like to get married and start a family.
McKenzie says she likes Sweet Home because “it is quiet and peaceful.
“In Sweet Home you can pretty much walk anywhere you want to go,” she said. “I also feel very safe here. It is a good community, with good people who care about each other.”
She thinks she will do well on the court “because I am a good listener and I respect other people’s opinions,” she said. “I am also a hard worker and want to make this a fun experience for the other people and me.”