By Sarah Brown
Lebanon Local
Endya Grace Robinson, 18, daughter of Phil and Fawn Robinson, has lived in the same house for most of her life. She has one brother, Ryan.
Her grandfather, Bill Rauch, has played a huge role in influencing her.
“He’s done so much for our community,” she said. “I’m like, ‘I want to do that too, when I grow up.’”
One way he influenced her was by taking her to service club meetings, such as the Optimists and Rotarians.
“I love how much they give back to the community,” she said. “I look up to them a lot.”
Robinson also wants to be an accountant, like her grandfather.
“When I was in middle school, I would go to his office and I would sit in there, and I’d see him work with charts and stuff,” she said. “It just seems interesting.”
Plus, she enjoys math.
She also likes cooking and baking. Robinson took the culinary course for four years at Lebanon High School. One of her favorite things to prepare is cream puffs, which, she said, are both simple and hard to make.
“I’m a big food person. I love trying new foods, and I’m very open to trying new things,” Robinson said.
If the food is really exotic and possibly disturbing, she’d rather not know what it is until after she’s tried it, though.
Robinson played volleyball, tennis and basketball, and was in the National Honor Society. She plans to attend Oregon State University to get her degree.
After having studied Spanish and learning about Spain’s “amazing” culture, Robinson hopes to have an opportunity to travel to Spain, as well as England, some day.
As a Strawberry Princess, Robinson was most looking forward to seeing the little kids at all the schools, she said. Due to COVID-19, most plans scheduled for the court were canceled, but she did get to visit the Boys & Girls Club, and hand out popsicles at a couple of schools.
To engage the community more, the court has posted videos on Facebook, including reading a storybook.
“I enjoyed reading the children’s book because I know a lot of kids really enjoy that,” she said.
She also answered questions posted by the community, including what she would want the court to do if time and money were not an obstacle.
“I said that we should go to England and be in our gowns and meet the queen.”
Another question she answered was who her inspirations are inside and outside the family. Naturally, she said, her grandfather was one, and her other inspiration was her culinary teacher, Marcia Hara.
“She’s always so bubbly, and she’s always so helpful in class and outside of class,” Robinson said. “I just really liked how nice she was and how much she did for us.”
When Robinson was younger, she would collect the Strawberry Princess cards.
“I still have some of the princess cards I got from when I was little. I remember meeting them and thinking they were so awesome. I wanted to do that and go meet a bunch of kids,” she said.
Robinson was looking forward to having her own cards to share with kids, too, but it didn’t happen this year.
Nevertheless, Robinson appreciates that Strawberry Princesses are there to act as ambassadors of Lebanon.
“If you know a Strawberry Princess, they come off as someone who’s really friendly and really open, and I feel like the community is the same way.”