What does it mean to be a distinguished young woman? It means connections, a title, and scholarships!

The Distinguished Young Woman competition is a national scholarship program similar to a Miss America-style event (without the bathing suits) for girls in the junior class.

The first round of competition is the Beaver County DYW event where girls must answer interview questions, do a pageant portion, and have a talent prepared.

Beaver County’s DYW is part of a national scholarship program that promotes and rewards scholastics, leadership, and talent in young women.

Past talents have included everything from singing and dancing to chemistry experiments.

Beaver County’s DYW will later go on to the state competition.

The local program is sponsored by the guidance department, and all hopeful ladies had to have their applications submitted by January 20.

All applications went directly to the DYW program, so we just have to wait and see if or how many Beaver Area ladies applied.

The mission of the National DYW program is to encourage higher education for girls through scholarship opportunities.

But scholarships aren’t the only thing at stake for the DYWs, because one of the coveted prizes of the complete is access to Life Skills Workshops that allow girls to meet new people and create connections in different fields.

Last year, senior Danica Purtell was chosen as one of the competitors for Beaver County, but was sadly beaten out. She had an excellent interview portion and her talent was truly unique with a chemistry experiment laid out for the judges to see.

Be sure to check the BASD ECHO for future DYW details and highlights.