PRESS RELEASE:
The Distinguished Young Women of Buncombe County Scholarship Program is proud to announce the 10 participants in the program for the Class of 2017. The final program will be held Saturday, August 27, 2016 at 7:00 at A.C. Reynolds High School. General admission tickets are $15 for adults, $10 for students/seniors in advance or $20 adults and $15 students/seniors at the door the night of the program.
The program will feature Kristie Kim, the Distinguished Young Woman of Buncombe Co. 2016. Kim, the daughter of Drs. Paul and Hwa-Jin Kim of Asheville, received preliminary category awards in Talent, Self Expression, and Overall Scholastics in addition to the DYW Buncombe title for a total of $1950 in cash scholarships. She received an additional $200 Talent award at the Distinguished Young Women of North Carolina program earlier this year. Miss Kim is a graduate of Asheville High and is a founding member of the Asheville Young Musicians Club, Concertmaster for the Asheville-Buncombe Youth Symphony Orchestra, member of the National Honor Society, was ranked First in her class, and was on the AHS Tennis Team. She will be attending Duke University this fall with plans to major in pre-medicine. Her career goal is to become an oncologist.
The Class of 2017 participants have been preparing for the on-stage portion of the program for the past 2 months and will be evaluated in fitness, self expression, and talent on Saturday night. Prior to the program event, all participants will participate in an interview by a panel of judges and a scholastic evaluation by college admissions professionals. “Each of these participants has already achieved a personal level of excellence in their lives,” states Anna Whisnant, Buncombe County Co-Chairman. “They are all exceptional young women and any one of them would make an excellent representative for Buncombe Co. They have all worked very hard this summer. While practicing this summer, they have all improved their physical fitness, public speaking, and interview skills- skills that they will take with them and use throughout their lifetime- in addition to making friends with like minded young women.
The categories in which each participant is evaluated are scholastics (25%), interview (25%), talent (20%), fitness (15%), and self expression (15%). The program’s goal is to honor young women who excel in all these areas and to encourage them to continue on the path of excellence
by completing their college educations and assuming the roles of leadership in their communities and professions, thereby setting examples for other young women to follow.
The Buncombe County program was founded 33 years ago, and in that time has awarded almost $145,000 in college scholarships to deserving young women. The Buncombe County representative has received scholarship awards at the state level almost every year, including 10 finalists and 5 state representatives. Buncombe County and North Carolina representative Christina Maxwell is the 2012 Distinguished Young Woman of America.
Founded in 1958 in Mobile, AL, Distinguished Young Women is the largest and oldest national scholarship program for high school girls. During its 59 years of operation, the program has provided life-changing experiences for more than 800,000 young women. Last year, Distinguished Young Women provided more than $820 million in cash and college scholarship opportunities to program participants at the local, state, and national level. Previously known as America’s Junior Miss, the program announced its new name in 2010.
The mission of Distinguished Young Women is to positively impact the lives of young women by providing a transformative experience that promotes and rewards scholarship, leadership, and talent. National sponsors include Mobile County, City of Mobile, Wintzel’s Oyster House, The Hearing-Chandler Foundation, Encore Rehabilitation, Alabama Power Foundation, Master Boat Builders, Barbara Barrington Jones Family Foundation, Regions Financial Corporation, and Alabama Media Group.
For more information about Distinguished Young Women, visit distinguishedyw.org or find us on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.
Tickets for the Buncombe County program can be purchased in advance from any participant or by contacting buncombe@distinguishedyw.org.
Class of 2017 participants:
Alexa Botham, Owen High School
Haley Earwood, Asheville Christian Academy Anu Frempong, Reynolds High School Heather Gelleny, Roberson High School Marina Hansen, Enka High School
Katie Hensley, Owen High School
Bethany Morgan, Owen High School
Brianna Smith, Roberson High School Ashley White, Asheville High School
Leila Yow, Roberson High School
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