The Sportsman’s Holiday Court has been part of Jamie Burcham’s life long before this year, but she’s only been a bystander as her sisters Amanda and Julie were members of past courts and her mother Karla has served as a chaperone for the court each year.
This year it’s Jamie Burcham’s turn to be a member and she’s having a good time doing it.
She said she decided to run for Sportsman’s Holiday because it’s “fun to be in the parades and dress up and go to all the places needed. I think Sweet Home is a good place to visit and there is a lot going on during Sportsman’s Holiday and I want to encourage other people to come here.”
Burcham, 17, is one of eight young women who are candidates to be chosen Sportsman’s Holiday queen for the festival, to be held July 13-15. The queen will be crowned on July 12.
She is the daughter of Karla Burcham of Sweet Home and Martin Burcham of Ohio. She has three siblings: Amanda, 23; Jarrod, 21; and Julie, 18.
Burcham, who will be a senior at Sweet Home High School next fall, says she has completed the credits required for high school so she plans to take courses at Linn-Benton Community College. She also plans to play volleyball and hopes to play that sport at Hawaii Pacific University.
“I am not sure what I want to be yet, but something along the lines of fashion, or in the medical field.”
She says she likes Sweet Home because of its proximity to the outdoors – the mountains and the lakes.
“In the winter I can go snowboarding and driving around in the snow with all my friends,” she said. “I like how it snows in town sometimes because it hardly ever happens. In the summer there are two lakes close by, Green Peter and Foster, that you can go to. I love going to the lake. I also like to go camping in the summer.”
Burcham said she thinks she could make a difference in Sweet Home by promoting the community’s good aspects – the lake, the small community, good schools – “a great place to live.”
“I think I would make a good representative because I am fun to be around, I like people and I think I am a good role model,” she said.