Congratulations Laura & Kaylee: 2014 Knox County Distinguished Young Women!

Today was day 2 of the Knox County Distinguished Young Women scholarship [formerly Junior Miss] competition weekend. The 21 girls in the program have been working for six straight weeks on preparing for this; as an alumni of the 2003 program, I know exactly what they were going through today.

Since today was the finale of the show, I rustled up a couple of memoirs from the 2002 show:

2003 Central Knox County Junior Miss Winners:
back: Me! & Chrissy
front: Kate. Kelly [2003 winner]. Dericka 

& this classic shot that will make me laugh forever...
1st runner up & the winner!

The first and pretty much only thing on the early part of today's agenda: Contestant interviews!
... To say that I had immediate flashbacks of doing this 11 years ago [no, I'm not awful at math; the actual competition was fall of 2002 before we graduated the following Spring ;)] is an understatement. As I sat in that room with the other judges, I felt so much empathy for these girls and their obvious nerves. I will spare details for the sake of confidentiality, but I will gladly say that I enjoyed the day and the full glimpse into what happens on the other side of the table.

The DYW board treated the judges to dinner at The Alcove, a classic fixture of downtown Mount Vernon. It's been yeaaars since I set foot in that place, but we all walked away with our appetites satisfied and our minds ready for the final leg of the competition.

Before I knew it, we were back in our balcony seats of the Memorial Theatre, plugged in to the last half of talent, fitness & self expression performances. I was reminded tonight how proud I am to have come out of Knox County; I have spent the past two days watching 21 of the most talented young women in this county showing off what they should be rightfully proud of. We might be a small place, but our talent is far from it!

I borrowed some snippets from the Mt. Vernon News, compliments of Virgil Shipley [aka, MV's legendary news photographer]:

alumni!
[shout out to kelly{2003 central knox junior miss}
 & luisa {2002 central knox junior miss} in the front!]

contestants on stage - beautiful!

left: central knox winner, 1st & 2nd runner up
right: greater knox winner, 1st & 2nd runner up

When it was all said and done, and the numbers had been tallied, a community of people stood to applaud and congratulate the 2014 Distinguished Young Women of Central & Greater Knox County.

So... CONGRATULATIONS to Kaylee (Greater) & Laura (Central)!



2014 distinguished young women of knox county, ohio
laura (central) & kaylee (greater)
{headshot photo cred: nicole leone miller photography}

There is no way I would've been able to judge this competition on my own; there were so many talented girls on that stage [21, to be exact] and I honestly believe they are all on their way to do great things after graduation. Did I mention I'm super proud to be a Knox Co. native?? (:

It's still November, so it's still that month of Thanksgiving & being thankful. On that note...

Day 23: I am grateful for the opportunity to have been a part of this incredible scholarship program when I was a high school senior. I am grateful that my beautiful, small but historic hometown is the center of competition for the local and state program. I am grateful to have been selected as an alumni judge for the 2014 program, thus being reminded of the talent and ambition in the seniors coming out of Knox County. I am grateful for the other four judges [JoEllen, Tina, Kait & Jenn], and for Tim & Leah, our navigators through the process over this weekend. What an incredible group of people, and an honor to be a part of it.

GOOD LUCK at STATE, to Laura & Kaylee!

& on that note, good night (:

xo | cmd

Knox County Distinguished Young Women: Part 1

A few weeks back, I got an email from one of my high school class members and friends, Kelly. It was in regards to the upcoming Distinguished Young Women [DYW, formerly called Junior Miss] scholarship program. She was asking myself and one of our other classmates to participate as judges for the competition.

I didn't know what to expect, really, but I went ahead and said yes.

Kelly was the 2003 Central Knox County Junior Miss. I was the 1st runner up, and the other judges, save for one, were also participants in the program throughout various years. Jenn, a few years our senior, was the 2000 Greater Knox County JM.

There are four other judges here with me this weekend, and after a couple of weeks of studying the 21 contestant bios, competition rules & standards, and the program itself, we all came together at the historic Russell Cooper house here in my hometown, Mount Vernon, Ohio.

So far I have zero regrets on agreeing to this. Actually, I'm honored.

Mount Vernon has so much history, and much of that is contained in the buildings of the city. They've been around longer than most of us, and because of that, we all have fond memories of places like the Memorial Theatre, where the competition is held each year. I am not alone in remembering my own participation in plenty of drama, musical and classic theatre productions from the time I was in elementary school until I graduated high school. Tonight we set foot as a group back on the stage, in front of our community in the audience, to be introduced as judges for the 2014 DYW competition.

joellen. tina. corin. jenn. kait.
2014 knox county distinguished young women's judges panel

Tonight was a blast. We were hosted for dinner at the Russell Cooper house before changing attire and then transported to the theatre for our introductions and the first night of judging the contestants.

I realized tonight that Knox County has been busy lately, producing talent much bigger than its claim on a map. The young ladies I saw onstage tonight brought back a tier of memories from 11 years ago when I was a participant in the program, and then further back into my late elementary days when we started annually serving as a host family for girls from the state level program. Junior Miss - excuse me, Distinguished Young Women - is a part of my late childhood and adolescence and to be on the other side of the table now is an honor.

It's late, and with day 1 of evaluations complete, I need some sleep so I can be back at it again tomorrow for the second and final day.

Good luck, ladies!!

xo | cmd