Your first chance to see this year's Bonners
Ferry Distinguished Young Women participants on
stage takes place this evening at the Pearl
Theatre, 7160 Ash Street, when the truly
distinguished group take part in the
DYW Style
Show, which begins with a social at
6:30.
According to those who've been working with this
years' group, most of them themselves former DYM,
or, before that, Junior Miss participants, the
dedication, hard work and talent of these young
ladies, high school juniors all, is just as
amazing as ever.
Competing this year for more than $11,000 in
scholarships and other prizes are Anika
Blackmore, Aubrey Dennis, Hailie Drake, Jailee
Foster Alexandria Jones, McKenzie McDonald,
McKayla Moore, Gabrielle Munson, Jocelyn
Palacios, Kaley Piatz and Brook Wilson.
Each will be judged in five different
categories; interview, scholastic, fitness,
talent and self expression in a program that,
for 55 years, has provided a life-changing
experience for over 700,000 amazing young women
across the nation, inspiring them to develop the
best in who they are, to blossom into the best
they can be.
It's a transformative experience, which this
year will culminate at 6 p.m. Saturday, April
27, in the Becker Auditorium at Bonners Ferry
High School, and these girls have been
practicing nightly, working hard. Learning,
growing.
The theme this year, "Seasons of Change," is a
fitting metaphor, organizers agree, for the
remarkable changes wrought in the lives of these
apt young women; pushing boundaries, growing
more confident day by day, building friendships
both with one another and with their mentors
that will last a lifetime.
Through this amazing program, established as
Junior Miss in 1958 in Mobile, Alabama, and
changed to the more fitting Distinguished Young
Women a few short years ago, every participant
(they dislike being called "contestants") has
gained. Confidence, poise. A widened sense of
who they are, and how much they matter.
While the competition is fierce, it's tinged
with friendship ... a heightened sense of self
and purpose; a new awareness of opportunity and
possibility ... a sense not of if or how to fit
in, but of where and what to do to make a
difference; to fulfill not only themselves, but
those people and causes they care for.
There are no "losers" in this program.
The distinguished young women you'll get a
glimpse of tomorrow night, and who you'll see on
stage April 27, are just that ... young.
Judging by all those who've gone before, their
best is yet to come.
For more information about Distinguished Young
Women of Bonners Ferry, or if you would like to
donate to their scholarship fund, please contact
Shelly Hoisington, Distinguished Young Women of
Bonners Ferry Co-Chairman, at
mccormick_school@hotmail.com or (208)
267-5932.
For more information about Distinguished Young
Women, contact Heather Rocker at Distinguished
Young Women, (251) 438-3621 or visit the
Distinguished Young Women Web site:
www.DistinguishedYW.org. |
