Photo by Eryn Harris

Julie Koewler, Jessica Baggot, director of marketing at Soffe, and Morgan Koewler at the airport in NYC. Jessica accompanied and assisted Morgan and group with their activities.

Photo by Eryn Harris

Morgan Koewler is shown with a stylist who goes by the name “Marco” at the John Barrett Salon.

Photo by Eryn Harris

Morgan Koewler gets primped at the John Barrett Salon in New York City as part of her all expenses paid trip.

Photo by Eryn Harris

Morgan Koewler, Bishop England Belles dance team captain, was recently named the 2009 Fresh Face of Soffe.

The Bishop England junior, was recently named the 2009 Fresh Face of Soffe, a sportswear manufacturer of active apparel.

She was nominated by her dance team coach, Eryn Harris, in October.

Harris, who often used Soffe on her dancers, said that she had signed up for e-mail updates.

One night, she got an e-mail at 11 p.m. saying that it was the last chance for submissions to the  Soffe/CosmoGIRL!/ Seventeen Fresh Face Contest. Harris immediately thought of her dance team captain,  as she had just taken headshots of her girls on the Belles dance team.

 The contest, which ended at midnight that night, was ‘a shot in the dark’, said Harris, but she quickly put together the 100 word essay nominating Koewler, without her even knowing about it.

The moderator e-mailed Harris back requesting more information.

A few days later, she got the phone call that Koewler was one of the top finalists and would be contacted for interviews.

Harris told the good news to Julie Koewler, Morgan’s mom, who is also a personal friend of hers.

Harris said that she had known Morgan about five years when they moved to Daniel Island from Cincinnati.

She has been dancing at Bishop England for three years.

Both were anxious as there was a lapse of two weeks after the initial phone call before they heard anything.

Then one day on her way to soccer practice, Morgan got the news.

“I never in my wildest dreams imagined that something like this would happen to me,” she said, beating out over 500 applicants.

Let the fun begin

On the weekend of Nov. 7, Morgan flew to New York with both her mother and her dance coach for an all expenses paid trip.

The trio got to stay in the luxurious Waldorf Astoria.

Also included in her prize package were a complete makeover, a $1000 shopping spree, a complete Soffe wardrobe, a photo shoot with Seventeen Magazine and other advertising opportunities with the Soffe company.

The experts immediately got to work on her with a spa manicure and pedicure, and hair and makeover.

Morgan described the experience as “feeling like a movie star.”

After the makeover, she and Harris went to the Broadway Dance Center to take a dance class with a favorite choreographer, where Morgan jokingly said she probably sweated all of her makeup off.

The rest of the trip was a whirlwind as they visited sites and hit the stores.

“I got myself a pair of Rock & Republic jeans- the one thing I let myself buy that was over the top,” Morgan said.

She also got the Ugg boots she always wanted.

She was in CosmoGirl! for an ad for the December issue announcing that she had won and is expected to be in an issue of Seventeen. The date/issue is unclear at this point.

In the spring, she will go to North Carolina, where Soffe is based out of, to do some modeling, something she never pictured herself as capable of doing.

Fresh off a trip to Ohio over the Christmas holiday, Morgan  said she probably told the story about 50 times.

Check out the Soffe Web site to see Morgan :  www.soffe.com/freshface.

(Helen Ravenel can be reached at helen@moultrienews.com. See more at www.moultrienews.com)