FIVE Apple Ambassador hopefuls have put their hats into the ring for the title at this year’s Donnybrook Apple Festival.
The four girls and one boy will spend their time between now and the Easter festival fundraising, getting involved in the community and brushing up on skills such as public speaking.
Their first fundraising activity will be a quiz night this Friday at the Donnybrook Football Club at 6.30pm.
Jess Sheehan, 19, will start physiotherapy at university this year.
She has a family history in the Apple Ambassador contest; her mother entered it in 1979.
She hopes through her involvement in the contest to be a positive influence on young people and to help keep the Apple Festival tradition going.
“You see stuff with younger people and it’s sad how the generation is not really a part of the community,” she said.
“It would be good to give them something to be proud of – I love Donnybrook and I hope to promote it more and give it a better name.”
Emily Hunt, 20, runs a dance school in Donnybrook.
Emily has lived in Donnybrook all her life and grew up seeing and being in the street parades.
“I thought that’s something I could do if I wanted,” Emily said.
“I thought it’s a good opportunity to give something back to a community I’ve been in for so long.”
Emily hopes to learn more about Donnybrook’s history and the apple industry through her involvement with the contest.
If she wins, she hopes to develop an annual event that can be enjoyed by everyone regardless of their age.
Eliza Venables, 18, will start university as a psychology student next month.
Eliza has been involved in the Donnybrook Modelling School with her mother for some time, as well as working at the Donnybrook Pharmacy for four years.
“You get to know a lot of the locals and I just really enjoyed being a part of the community, providing services,” she said.
She said she decided to enter the contest as it would be a chance to represent Donnybrook and Balingup even more.
She hopes to gain confidence and people skills through the experience and is excited to learn more about Donnybrook’s history.
“Somebody told me the other day the Granny Smith apple was named in Donnybrook,” she said.
If she should win, Eliza said she would like to find a way to improve Donnybrook’s tourism facilities such as a map or board showing all the facilities around the area.
Angelo Logiudice, 24, works at the Donnybrook Newsagency.
He said he had always wanted to be a part of the Apple Ambassador contest.
Angelo is the second male to enter the contest and sees it as a new challenge.
“I’d just like to help the community and promote Donnybrook and Balingup a bit more,” he said.
If he wins, Angelo would like to work towards promoting Donnybrook with the resources already there.
One project he is interested in working at is getting the apple entry statements at either end of town lit up.
He said he’d like to see more males involved in the contest and a lot of people at the festival.
Hannah Rogers, 19, works at IGA and is looking into doing a course to become a teacher’s assistant.
She entered the contest because it would be an opportunity to learn about the town.
“I thought it would be a really good opportunity to become a part of the community and meet people,” she said.
Hannah hopes to gain self-confidence and growth from the experience, as well learning more about the community.
If she wins the contest, she would like to work towards having an information bar in town.
“It would be something telling where things are that would increase tourism,” she said.
“The tourist centre isn’t always open – it would be an opportunity for people to just go and look at it instead of having to go out of their way to find places.”
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