Astrid Gamino Crowned Holiday Princess

Astrid Gamino was officially named and crowned 2014’s Holiday Princess at the Third Annual Holiday Boutique presented by the REC Center and held at the Brookdale/Emeritus Senior Living Community on Dec. 6. Gamino, 16, is a student at Bloomington High School. According to Jennifer Araiza, Executive Director at the REC Center, she is an honor student who loves performing arts like singing and theater, is involved with various activities both on and off campus, and enjoys volunteering with the elderly. Before the event, Gamino spent the day being pampered and dolled-up at Bella Tresse Salon in Colton. As the event kicked off at 6 p.m., community members piled in to visit the Holiday Boutique and participate in Santa’s Workshop. At 6:30 p.m., everyone’s attention went to the crowning of the Holiday Princesses. Although the winners were already announced, Astrid Gamino was officially crowned 2014’s Bloomington area Holiday Princess, alongside Grand Terrace’s Holiday Princess Ashley Rivera. Community members and attendees of all ages were allowed a meet and greet with the newly crowned Holiday Princesses. Holiday performances from The REC Center included musical numbers, followed by traditional Christmas caroling complete with hot chocolate. “The whole event is to bring the community together to honor and officially crown the well-deserved Holiday Princesses of this year. Everyone that came together to have fun to celebrate the holidays and the princesses is a plus,” Araiza said. The event began three years ago, when Araiza first opened the Grand Terrace area REC Center, a community organization that provides recreation, education and creative arts programs to local youth. The process behind choosing the princesses begins with a simple application that asks the women why they deserved to be the Holiday Princess. However, there are no pictures or any descriptions of the girl’s appearance attached to their application. Araiza then takes the nominations to the REC Center’s Board of Directors for them to vote for the winner. “They choose the winner based on their academics, leadership and community service,” she said. This is the first year a Holiday Princess from Bloomington has been chosen. Araiza added, “There were about 15 girls nominated between both cities, Grand Terrace and Bloomington, and they [Board of Directors] chose the top two.”