Amy Heldenfels, age 19

Austin, TX

I guess I always knew I would be a debutante... I guess because my mom did it and it's just kind of a thing you do when you turn this age. It used to be to introduce you to society. "She's okay to marry now," or things like that. But nowadays it's just more for the fun of it... It was just a big party, I guess.

Getting into college was one of the biggest things to ever happen to me. Getting into A&M, which was my first choice. 'Cause after my first year there-- it's just life changing. My whole family has gone there so it was kind of expected of me, but I also wanted to go there too... They would have been happy as long as I didn't go to UT, which is our rival! I feel like I've become more independent and everything, because I was always sheltered in an environment like West Lake where every person has a bubble.

I grew up in the church... faith is a very strong part of me. I mean, you can just say that you believe in God, but so does the devil. So, a lot of people seem to turn to Him when things go wrong, or they turn away from Him when things go wrong. But if you really want to talk to Him daily and have a really close relationship, almost like a friend rather than being so revered, then He's there every day and can help you through anything, happy or sad.

My faith teaches me that you should wait 'til after you're married to have sex. I believe that if you can discipline yourself to save yourself for, hopefully, the perfect person, or someone who loves you that much, then you can tell him that, "I had faith that one day I would love you this much that I saved myself for you." And I also feel like, especially looking back, you go through so many learning periods. I mean, I look back just a year and think, "Oh my gosh, I can't believe I did that. Why did I act like that?" You think you're a big-time sixteen year-old because you can drive, but... I don't think teenagers are mature enough to make the decision to have sex on their own.

I'm not a career-centered type of person. I want to succeed, but I want to have a family... I hope I'll get married young so that I can have a family and be a young mom and everything... Sometime soon out of college maybe, or in my twenties.

My dream is that I've always wanted to be, since I was pretty young, a successful ballerina, but that's not going to happen. I want to be a wedding coordinator. With some kind of silliness, I've just thought, like, a lawyer or a doctor, but... And if I work really hard, you know, and do the things I'm supposed to do, hopefully that'll be my career someday.