Starkville High senior competes in virtual DYW
Each year in Mississippi, hundreds of young women show off their academic prowess and life skills in the Distinguished Young Women of Mississippi competition. The competition, which features interview, talent, fitness, academics and self expression categories, is a highly recognized program which offers scholarships for those named distinguished young women.
However, as with most large gatherings, this year’s DWY competition is going to be a bit different due to the coronavirus limiting attendance and making social interaction difficult. Last Saturday, Starkville High School senior and Distinguished Young Woman of Starkville Makenzie Stone headed to the Evangel Temple in Meridian to compete, not for a crowd of people, but for a camera. This year’s competition is being filmed in stages, and the footage will be compiled into a live stream broadcast in September.
“It went well. I have to commend the state committee,” she said. “They did a really great job of keep us all distanced and making us wear masks.”
Stone said there was a lot of emphasis placed on safety and making sure the young women from throughout the state felt safe and comfortable attending during their day of filming. Contestants were allowed to bring two family members with them and were given an opportunity to warm up before performing in front of the state DYW committee for
scoring. Overall, Stone said the day went very well.
“The filming process went really smoothly,” she said.
Saturday’s filming marks the culmination of a year of hard work and preparation by Stone and her family. She said they began work in November 2019 for the Distinguished Young Women of Starkville in February and continued right through the competition to prepare for state.
“I’ve been working toward the state program ever since February 8, the night that I won,” she said. “It’s been nonstop from there. It’s been such a fun experience. I’ve learned a lot of skills and had a lot of confidence gain. I’ve been working toward this program for almost a year now, and it has been the most fun I think I’ve had.”
Stone is currently in her senior year at Starkville High School, where she is on the tennis team, a member of the student council and several other clubs and organizations. In addition to the Distinguished Young Women program, she has also been preparing to take the next step toward college, where she hopes to work toward medical school.
“I’ve started to apply to some colleges. I haven’t made any decisions yet, but hopefully I’m going to be in more of a biological sciences premed program,” she said. “I hope to go to med school in the future.”
Stone was joined in Meridian Saturday by half of the 2020 Distinguished Young Women of Mississippi competitors, with the other half scheduled to be filmed later. The live stream of the competition is slated for Sept. 26 for preliminaries and Sept. 27 for the finals. The winners of the competition will head Mobile, Alabama in June to compete in the Distinguished Young Women National finals.
For more information about the Distinguished Young Women program, visit distinguishedyw.org. Viewers can tune into the live stream via the Distinguished Young Women of Mississippi’s Facebook page in September.