Community Corner

Rose Float Princesses: Kacey Benson

Animals and comedy are among the many interests of this local princess.

Kacey Benson says she likes dogs, art, glitter and the color pink. Not necessarily in that order, either.

The student at Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy will be living something of a dream when she joins three young ladies on the city's float for the 2012 Rose Parade. 

"I'm very excited for the parade because I've watched it my whole life," she said. "It's crazy to be in it."

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Her whole life, all 15 years of it, has been spent in Sierra Madre, which she would define for outsiders as a "close, tight-knit community, where everywhere you go, you see people you know."

What shes doesn't know for certain, at least not yet, is where she wants to go for college or what career path she wants to pursue. She does, however, have some ideas. 

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"It would be a dream to spend a semester abroad in London," she said. "I visited london on break, and I just loved it, British accents and everything. And there are too many good careers out there right now, and I love a lot of different things, so it's hard to decide. I really love animals, so maybe I could be a vet one day."

She spends a lot of time walking dogs around town, and she also has two of her own: Porter, a hound, and Bodie, a labrador. She has her sights set on a third dog, a basset hound -- and yes, the floppity ears are a factor. 

She is also a member of the school's comedy sports group, which specializes in improv. Kacey has a knack for diving into things just for the sake of trying them, and comedy was no different.

"I love making people laugh and making people happy. I saw them perform when I was in eighth grade, and they don't let freshmen on the team," she said, adding that she loves Saturday Night Live. "But when I was a freshman, I tried out for them. It was scary, because tons of people went to the audition. We had to do crazy games that I had never played, but it was actually really, really fun.  

"I had never taken theater, but a lot of the theater kids had already played these games in class because it was an elective -- so a lot of people knew the games already. It was weird because I was like, "Why does everyone know what's going on, and I don't?"

She also bounded into swimming and cross-country, which she said was "weird, because I hated running at first, but I also like a challenge and it seemed like something fun to try. "

Kacey also serves as an ambassador for her school, which means she leads tours around school to eighth-graders. Her job is to "try to make people feel welcome and inspire them to come to my school." 

Some of that spirit could come from being the middle child, sandwiched in age between a 7-year-old and a 17-year-old brother. She said it's helped her learn how to share, but also toughened her up to the point where she might not seem as "girlie" as others her age. 

"But I still like pink," she said. 


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