By By JOHN EBY / Dowagiac Daily News
As Potawatomi Indian Nation Princess for 2006-07, Jenna Huffman-Winchester of Sister Lakes figures she represents 100,000 people.
Not bad for a Dowagiac Union High School sophomore who turns 16 in June.
This weekend will be busy.
On Saturday morning, she'll be at the Kalamazoo area's Air Zoo, which is featuring Navajo Code Talkers.
Saturday night, she'll be attending the Miss Dowagiac Scholarship Pageant at Dowagiac Middle School Performing Arts Center.
Dec. 1, she rode in Dowagiac's Christmas parade.
"Hopefully I will" get to take part in the August opening of the tribe's Four Winds Casino Resort groundbreaking before relinquishing her title.
She unveiled its logo at the ground breaking last year.
Jenna dedicated her win to her late grandfather, Joseph Winchester.
When she was 4, "We went to the White House. I always wanted to be President," she said of sharing the Oval Office with President Bill Clinton and her grandfather, who was tribal chairman in 1994 when the Pokagon Band's federal recognition was restored.
"He was so happy," Jenna said. "When I was a little girl, he used to stay up all night working on that kind of stuff. We didn't touch his office and there are just filing cabinets of the work he did. He's the reason I ran for Miss Potawatomi. He always wanted me to."
Jenna won Potawatomi Princess on her first try at the Gathering of the Pokagon Band and others which took place in Dowagiac last summer.
Three contestants competed outdoors, by the pow wow arena, with interviews at the tribal court building.
All together, there are nine bands, including two from Canada, Kansas, Oklahoma, Wisconsin, three from southwest Michigan and one from the Upper Peninsula.
"It was pretty huge," she said Monday at the Tribal Lodge at the Pokagon Band's Sink Road headquarters southwest of Dowagiac. "Like 3,000 people showed up."
Jenna said when she relinquishes her title this summer it will be in Wisconsin.
"It's kind of like every other princess contest," she said, but with a couple of notable exceptions, such as dance and speaking in Potawatomi competitions.
"We had to go to interviews and get asked a series of questions" by five judges.
Girls ages 13 to 21 compete for Potawatomi Princess. No prince is selected.
Jenna felt dancing experience gave her an advantage. "I've danced fancy dance since I was 6 and traditional since I was 2."
The clothing she wears for dance competition is decorated with butterflies.
Her weighty hand-beaded "crown" took two months to make and is adorned with the same flowers depicted on the tribal flag. She gets to keep it.
"My friends think it's cool, but some people ask me if it's a hat," she said. "We went to Tosi's in Stevensville and a guy asked me if I lost a bet," Jenna said. "It's pretty funny what people come up with."
Jenna is involved in the Cass County Coalition to Reduce Underage Drinking, for which she went to a Baltimore convention over the summer.
At DUHS she serves on Student Senate. Jenna is on Tribal Youth Council with the Pokagon Band.
"I want to go to college," she said, "but I'm not sure what I want to do yet."
In her spare time. Jenna enjoys "friends, movies, bowling, the mall, average stuff."
Jenna is the daughter of Judy Winchester and Arnold Huffman. Her mother is Tribal Council secretary.