Curtis named Distinguished Young Woman

Distinguished Young Women took place Saturday after months of preparation and rehearsal. The contestants journey came to end when Emily Curtis was announced 2019 Madison DYW.

The girls had been

 preparing for DYW since December and some even before then. There is a lot you have to think about while preparing including grades and taking the ACT  as well as getting in shape for fitness and learning current events for the judges interview. A lot of girls decided to do this at the beginning of the school year but others have been preparing since at least last year, some even before that.

“My mom did it when she was a junior and she always told me what a great experience it was so I thought I may as well try it out!” Junior Avery Stoddard said.

 DYW is not only a great opportunity

 to earn scholarships, but the girls also made great friends. But the girls weren’t the only students that got to be a part of the evening. The contestants voted on who they wanted to help them as escorts. They are an important part of the show as they move things around and help the girls on and off stage.

“I loved participating in this,” Junior escort Austin Child said about his experience. “As an escort we only started about two weeks to a week and a half ago. We came and practiced our dance routine just us guys and on Thursday we finally practiced with the girls until way late and then again on Friday. Overall, it’s been a really fun experience.”

Curtis was surprised when her name was called as the winner, but is excited about what she has learned and experienced through the program.

“I would say the best part of this experience was getting to know the other girls. It was so cool to meet people I’d seen in the halls but I’d never talked to. It’s crazy, our school is so big, but you still feel like you kinda know everybody and then you get here and do something like this and really get to know them. Everyone in this program is fantastic. I was inspired to do this because I hadn’t ever done anything like this before. A year ago if you had asked me if I was doing this, I would have said no way, but I found out that some of my friends were doing it and I realized that it would really push me so I went for it.”

Since Emily loves community service, she wants to complete a lot of things by the end of her year as DYW. She really wants to do something great for the school.

“I think it’s important to realize how significant each individual person is at our school. There’s so many people who get left out of that. One of the big issues is, especially in the recent shootings, is that there are kids that feel, and granted there’s mental challenges as well, but people feel like they aren’t loved and I think it’s so important that we reach out to others so that they don’t only feel included but also welcomed and motivated to do programs like this to help others feel that,” Curtis said.