On Wednesday, two Indiana Wesleyan University (IWU) students were announced as the 2026 Indy 500 Princesses.
Every year, women from across Indiana are selected to represent the Indy 500 Festival through the end of May. This year, juniors Lauren Wuthrich and Ruth Tripp were selected as the princesses representing IWU.
A press release from the festival said the princesses were selected for their community engagement, academic excellence, leadership and Hoosier pride.
“They will develop professional skills, forge connections statewide, and receive mentorship from the 500 Festival Board of Directors,” the festival said.
The festival said the princesses will complete more than 1,500 hours of community engagement, impacting more than 50,000 Hoosiers through school visits, community events and partnerships with local organizations.
While both now represent IWU, Wuthrich’s and Tripp’s paths to the program began differently.
Wuthrich said she first heard about the role through senior Kara Simison.
“She was a princess last year from Indiana Wesleyan in 2025, and I saw it on her Instagram,” Wuthrich said. “I met up with her and talked, and I just found out, basically, through her experiences, what it kind of was going to look like, if I could get into it, and that’s mainly what pulled my interest.”
Tripp said she heard about the role back in the summer of 2024.
“I didn’t realize this then, but I had the opportunity to meet a few princesses in 2024 through the Riley oncology program prom and then also, later that same summer, at the Purdue circus parade,” Tripp said.
With the application process, Wuthrich and Tripp both said the process was quite lengthy.
Wuthrich said she applied with more than 100 other women.
“From what I’ve heard, there are many different, vast opinions on how many applicants there were, but I think there were a couple hundred that began the application process,” Wuthrich said. “They narrowed it down to 33 girls. Once you found out, you went to orientation, and that’s how you knew you were completely in.”
Tripp said the initial application was a rundown of basic information.
“The Indy 500 Festival Princess applications began with an application that asked simple things like our personal information, I believed our schooling information, our service opportunities, things like what our greatest accomplishment is, and other stuff,” Tripp said.
The Indy 500 Festival reached out to the accepted princesses last week, with information about when they could share the exciting news.
Wuthrich said she was overjoyed when she learned she had been accepted.
“I’m mostly looking forward to this opportunity that they allow you to really network and connect with other people, as well as further serve Indiana,” Wuthrich said. “I’m from northern Indiana, and there aren’t too many that come from up there, so I think it’s really cool to have the outreach throughout the entire state of Indiana, and I love the community aspect that it also creates.”
Tripp said she was overwhelmed with joy and excitement when she found out she was accepted.
“I’m not going to lie, I screamed in excitement,” Tripp said. “I got excited every time I moved on, but then finding out I was going to have this amazing opportunity, and to learn all these new things, and to be able to reach out into my community.”
Tripp said she is looking forward to bringing more awareness with this new role.
“The fact that I’m an Indy 500 Princess, I can bring awareness more to Indiana Wesleyan because the 500 is such a big event,” Tripp said. “It is the greatest spectacle in racing, and through having not one but two princesses this year from IWU, I think we can maybe turn some eyes outside of the immediate community towards IWU and just how amazing it is here.”
Wuthrich said she encourages anyone interested in the program to apply.
“You only get to be a princess once, and this truly is just an organization or a program that they put together to not make it seem like a beauty contest or base it off of the stereotypical princess, but to be able to show selflessness and just a giving heart to your community,” Wuthrich said.
Tripp said anyone interested in applying can visit the festival’s Princess Program website for requirements.
