INDIANAPOLIS — When Jenna Nosek interviewed to be a 500 Festival Princess, she wasn’t sure if she answered the questions well enough or even if she chose the right shirt to wear.
But her answers and her apparel must have been just fine, because the Greenfield native was selected from hundreds of applicants as one of the 33 women in the program.
“I was honestly quite shocked,” Nosek said of learning the news.
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The 500 Festival is a nonprofit organization that provides events and programs celebrating the legacy of the Indianapolis 500. Its princess program aims to expand participants’ leadership skills, professional development and community impact. Princesses will participate in the initiative’s Leadership Development Program, receive a $1,000 scholarship and take part in statewide outreach programs. They’ll also volunteer at 500 Festival events and Indianapolis Motor Speedway functions, including pre-race ceremonies and the Victory Circle celebration for the upcoming 103rd running of the Indy 500.
Nosek graduated from Scecina Memorial High School and is a junior at Butler University, where she majors in biology and classical studies.
She said she was motivated to pursue the princess program because a fellow Bulldog who had been selected a couple years ago said it was an excellent way to get involved and increase a person’s community service. Nosek said community service was lacking in her life and that it’s important to give back to the place that shaped her into the person she is today.
The 500 Festival Princess program describes its participants as “Indiana’s most civic-minded, academically driven young women.”
Nosek said both qualities are important to her.
“We need to be conscious of the problems and different happenings in our communities because that’s where we come from,” she said of being civic-minded.
Academic success is important not only for herself, Nosek said, but also for setting an example for the children she hopes to reach as a role model through the program.
Margaret Zeh Fulford, who was Nosek’s theology teacher and assistant cross-country coach in high school, said she was not surprised to learn her former student was named a 500 Festival Princess. She said all the women she’s known who have earned that honor have been “hardworking, intelligent but most importantly kind and caring.”
“Jenna will take serious her responsibilities all the while keeping her trademark smile,” Zeh Fulford said.
Zeh Fulford said what she remembers the most about Nosek is her “driven, never-give-up attitude” as well as her unique laugh.
“Probably because she was able to keep that laugh even when things were hard,” Zeh Fulford said.
The 500 Festival Princesses were selected based on their communication skills, academic performance and community involvement, according to a news release.
One of the princesses will be named the 2019 500 Festival Queen Scholar on May 18 during the 500 Festival Breakfast at the Brickyard. The winner will get an additional $1,500 scholarship.
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Women chosen to serve as princesses for the 500 Festival are ambassadors for the Indianapolis 500 and the dozens of activities that take place in the month of May. The Indy 500 is May 26.
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