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Award Honors Carpenter's Compassion

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By DAVE NICHOLSON, The Tampa Tribune

Published: February 9, 2008

PLANT CITY - No one ever will know if the late Megan Carpenter would have been Florida Strawberry Festival queen, but her compassion was remembered at this year's pageant.

One contestant, Jordan Andreu, was presented with the Megan Carpenter Genuine Heart Award based on Andreu's integrity and the love and friendship she gives to a fellow Durant High School student with Down's syndrome.

Katie Sharer, 2004 festival queen and a friend of Carpenter's, presented the award.

Sharer said she wanted to honor someone at the pageant because she thinks Carpenter, who died Nov. 15, 2006, at age 17, likely would have been a contestant.

Carpenter was a caring person who "left an impact on so many lives," Sharer said.

Carpenter fought cancer of the adrenal glands for more than five years, and the community held fundraisers for her family and the families of two other teenagers who were fighting life-threatening illnesses at the same time; Allie Prescott, who died last year, and Brandi Redmon.
Andreu was selected for the award by a panel of five judges, based on an essay she wrote. She focused on a 17-year-old boy with Down's syndrome, who she mentors through Durant High's Best Buddies club, which pairs mainstream students with those in special education programs.

The 16-year-old Durant junior and daughter of Alan and Kelly Andreu plans to attend the University of Florida and wants to be a pediatric biomedical engineer. She is a member of the Durant band and the National Honor Society. She is a lifelong Plant City resident and a seventh-generation Floridian.
Andreu received a prize package worth about $500, including gift certificates for a prom dress, meals and gift baskets, Sharer said.

It was appropriate to remember Carpenter at the 2008 pageant, Sharer said. Carpenter had competed in Junior Royalty, the festival-related pageant for girls ages 5 to 15, and Sharer has no doubt she wanted to be queen.

"She never missed a pageant and she never missed a strawberry festival," Sharer said.

"This would have been her year."

Reporter Dave Nicholson can be reached at (813) 865-4432 or dnicholson@tampatrib.com.

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