Quince: Did you always know thatyou would celebrate Elsie’s XV witha quinceañera fiesta?¿Siempre sabían que Elsie tendríauna fiesta de quinceañera?

Answer: Yes, within our family it iscommon to begin thinking of a girl’squinceañera as soon as she is born.Si, entre nuestra familia esmuycomún que desde que nace unaniña se sueñe con la planeaciónde una fiesta de quince años.

Q: How old was Elsie when youbegan planning her quinceañerafiesta?¿Que edad tenia Elsie cuandocomenzaron a planificar su fiestade quinceañera?

A: Since she was 14 years old.Desde que tenía catorce años.

Q: Did you have a set budget?¿Tenían un presupuesto concreto?

A: You always plan with a budgetbut once you begin to plan theevent things pop up which changethe budget.

Siempre se planea con un pre-supuesto pero cuando se empiezaa organizar surgen detalles quecambian ese presupuesto.

Q: Who did the majority of theplanning?¿Quien hizo lamayoría de la plan-ificación?

A: My parents and I planned whatwe wanted for that special day.Entremis padres y yo planeamoslo que queríamos para ese día tanespecial.

Q: How long before the fiesta didyou- reserve the church?- reserve the reception hall?¿Cuánto tiempo antes de la fiesta- reservaron la iglesia?- reservaron el salónde recepción?

A: As soon as I turned 14 wereserved the church and receptionhall.Exactamente cuando cumplí loscatorce años fuimos y reservamosla iglesia y el salón.

Featured Quinceañera:Elsie Yazmin Marentes

Date: August 30, 2008

Church Ceremony:St. Rafael Archangel3915 Ocee St.,Houston, TX 77063

Reception and Dance:El Porton Reception Hall16211 Clay Rd. Suite 310,Houston, TX 77084

Photographer:West Houston Photographywesthoustonphotography.com

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Q: Elsie, how involved were you in the

planning and decision-making process

of the quinceañera?

Elsie, ¿cuánta participación tuviste enla planificación y toma de decisionesde tu fiesta de quince?

A: I was involved in all aspects of the

planning of my quinceañera along with

my parents and baptismal godparents

who were with me at every moment.

Participe en toda la planificación demiquinceañera junto amis padres ymispadrinos de bautizo queme acom-pañaron en todomomento.

Q: What was the most difficult part ofthe planning process?¿Cuál fue la partemás difícil del proce-so de planificar la quinceañera?

A: Well, I wanted all of my cousins to bea part of my Court of Honor but they alllived away from the city. So we had toplan the event in a week where every-one could come so that the choreogra-pher could teach us the dance.Como yo quería que todosmis primosparticiparan en la corte de honor ytodos viven fuera de la cuidaddebíamos organizarla en una semanadonde todos pudieran venir y el coreó-grafo pudiera enseñarnos el baile.

Q: What was the easiest part of theplanning process?¿Cuál fue la partemás fácil del procesode planificar la quinceañera?

A: The easiest part was finding thereception hall and my dress.Lomás fácil fue conseguir el salón ymivestido paramis quince.

Q: Elsie, who participated in your courtof honor? How old was the youngestparticipant?Elsie ¿quienes participaron en tucorte de honor? ¿Qué edad tenía elmás chico del grupo?

A: All of my cousins participated in myCourt of Honor. The youngest was 10years old.Todosmis primos participaron en lacorte de honor. El más chico tenía diezanos.

Q: Where was Elsie’s gown bought?¿En donde compraron el vestido deElsie?

A: We bought the dress at Anna’s Bridalstore.La tienda donde compramos el vestidoera Anna’s Bridal.

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Q: Elsie, you and your courtperformed a variety of danceswith elaborate moves andtechnique. Who came up withall these dances and who cho-reographed them?Elsie y su corte de honorrealizaron una variedad debailes conmovimientos y téc-nica elaborada. ¿A quién se leocurrió todas las danzas yquien hizo la coreografía?

A: A gentleman namedArmando choreographed the dance andhe taught us every step with a lot ofpatience until it was perfect.El señor Armando fue la persona querealizo la coreografía y nos enseño conpaciencia todos los pasos hasta quequedaran perfectos.

Q: How long did it take you all to learnall these dances?¿Cuánto tiempo les tomó a todos aaprender todas estas danzas?

A: The choreographer had the difficulttask of teaching us the dances in 3 daysin 4 hour sessions per day.El coreógrafo tuvo la difícil tarea deensenarnos los bailes en tres días ensesiones de cuatro horas al día.

Q: What was the name of the song youchose for the father-daughter dance?¿Cuál era el nombre de la canción queeligieron para el baile de padre e hija?

A: “El tiempo de Vals” de Chayanne.

Q: As parents, what is your fondestmemory of Elsie’s quinceañera?Como padres ¿cuál es sumejor recuer-do de la quinceañera de Elsie?

A: The moment when we presented Elsieto all our family and friends who joinedus in celebrating her 15 year celebration.El momento de presentar a Elsie antetodos los familiares y amigos que nosacompañaron en el festejo de losquince años.

Q: Elsie, what was the best part of yourquinceañera experience?¿Elsie, que fue la mejorparte de tu experiencia detu fiesta de quinceañera?

A: To be surrounded by mywhole family who accompa-nied me on my special dayand when I danced thewaltz with my dad.Estar rodeada de todamifamilia queme acompañoenmi día tan especial ycuando baile el vals conmipapa.

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Want to be featuredinQUINCEMAGAZINE?Quince Magazine is currentlylooking for quinceañeras to fea-ture in its upcoming issues. Wewant to hear from you if: You’vehad a quinceañera in the last 3years. Have a unique story to tellabout your quince fiesta. Arebeginning your quince planningand would like for us to chronicleyour journey. Contact the Editorat mdgonzalez@hispanicmeet-ingstravel.com to submit yourname and information. A QuinceMagazine staff member will followup with you to work out the detailsof your feature.

Quince: Elsie you have now entered a new

stage in life - that of a college student! As a

freshman at Texas A&M University tell us a

little bit of how your life has changed in the

last 5 months.

Answer: Being at Texas A&M has been a

great experience everyone is so friendly

and you meet many new people. It is very

different from high school because now

you are on your own and the classes are

much harder but that just means you have

to try harder to achieve what you want.

Q: Has your college experience been what

you had expected?

A: For the most part my college experience

has been what I expected except maybe

that the classes are much harder than I

thought but not impossible and there are

always people there to help me. My college

experience has been great and I have really

enjoyed it.

Q: Did you experience any homesickness

when you first moved on campus? If so,

how did you cope with it?

A: I didn’t really expe-

rience any homesick-

ness of course I

missed my family but

I also really enjoyed

meeting new people

and being on my

own after always

depending on my

…3 years after her Quinceañera

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Q: What is your major and how did you

choose it?

A: My major is Mechanical Engineering. At

first I didn’t know what I wanted to be but I

knew that I wanted something to do with

math. In my senior year, I heard many peo-

ple talking about engineering and it was

something that grabbed my attention. I

researched engineering and found that it

had to do with math and physics and those

where the classes that I liked so I decided

that I was going to do engineering.

Q: What advice do you havefor high school girls whoare not sure if they can han-dle college life?

A: College life is a greatexperience to have and youmeet many new peoplethat will probably becomeyour friends. Althoughclasses maybe hard thereare always people there tohelp you from tutoring,talking to your professors orjust studying with otherpeople in your classes.

Everyone here at Quincemagazine wishes Elsie muchsuccess at Texas A&M, in herupcoming career and wher-ever life may lead her!

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Elsiewith her parents and sister the day shemoved into her dorm.