A Green River High School Student who decided to push herself out of her comfort zone, walked away with money for college.
Kristen Morris, a senior, said she had never participated in a pageant or anything like it, but when she heard about the Distinguished Young Women of Wyoming's competition, she figured she'd give it a try.
After all, the program offered scholarships in several different areas of the competition.
According to the website http://wy.distinguishedyw.org,"Distinguished Young Women of Wyoming is part of a national scholarship program that promotes and rewards scholarship, leadership and talent in young women."
"Basically, it's trying to improve you're best self and earn money for college," Morris said.
About 50 high school seniors submitted applications for the competition, some didn't meet the the application deadline and were disqualified and others decided not to compete after all, which left 10 young women from across Wyoming left for the competition.
Although the competition is set up like a pageant, it's much different. The areas the women compete in are talent, fitness, interview, self expression and scholarship.
Morris said it was hard for her to even prepare for the interview portion because she didn't know what kind of questions they were going to ask her.
For the fitness portion, the contestants were asked to go to Youtube and learn a fitness workout that included completing squats, pushups and other fitness activities to music.
As for talent, the contestants decided what they wanted to do. It was an easy decision for Morris on what talent to do since she had been involved in dance for the past 12 years and is currently a member of the Green River High School dance team. She chose to perform a lyrical dance to "Lost Boy" by Ruth B.
The scholarship area required a review of the girls' GPAs and what groups they were involved in at school. Morris is not only on the dance team, but a member of the band, marching band and National Honor Society.
In the self expression category, the competitors were asked to wear something they would pick to wear to homecoming or an after 5 p.m. party. While on stage in their dresses, the young women were each asked a question. Morris said they were given the question 24 hours in advance so they would have time to prepare an answer.
Morris walked away winning two categories, fitness and talent. She earned $300, but felt the experience might have been worth more.
Not only did she receive training on how to to conduct herself in interviews, she learned five basic ways to be her best self, which are be healthy, responsible, studious, involved and ambitious.
"I definitely learned how to improve my interviews skills," Morris said. "I left with confidence of knowing I could do better at interviews."
Morris enjoyed her overall experience of staying with a host family and meeting new people.
"My favorite part was getting out of my comfort zone and getting to meet friends," Morris said. "I left there with nine lifelong friends."
Reader Comments(0)