Carson High grad vying for Distinguished Young Woman of America title

One Carson High graduate is competing this weekend for a national scholarship and title of Distinguished Young Woman of America.

Juliet Favero, who graduated from Carson in June, has been in Alabama for almost a week to participate in the 60th Distinguished Young Women National Finals. It’s a scholarship program for high school seniors that aims to positively impact young women by providing experiences that promote and reward scholarship, leadership and talent.

“Our focus is on scholastics and interview, both of which happen away from the stage and focus on them bettering their future,” said Adrienne Rea, marketing and communications director for the program. “As the oldest and largest scholarship program for high school girls, we hope this program provides for their future education as well as impacting their future.”

Each finalist competes at the state level first, where they go on to compete in the finals. There they participate in team building activities, community service projects and other events for two weeks in preparation for the three-day competition. The women are evaluated on scholastics, interview, fitness, talent and self expression, which determines the national finalist.

“I think (my favorite part of the program is) the girls because we are all just trying to figure out this stuff together because it isn’t anything we have ever done before,” Favero said. “But we all have similar talents and interests so it is fun to get to know them and go through this with them.”

For Favero, the competition is unlike anything she has ever done before, but has provided her necessary skills for her to take onto college next year.

“It feels really good, kind of overwhelming, just because I am young and I have never done anything like this before, but it is a ton of fun and I am grateful and happy to be here,” Favero said. “For me, I love theater and being on stage but I am a very shy and introverted person, so to be here with 50 girls, constantly interacting with them, having a roommate and stuff, that is all pretty new for me and something I will have to do in college so that is super nice to have that experience.”

The program awards nearly $2.2 million in scholarships, with the winner taking home $40,000. They also provide scholarships to a number of categories including the runners-up, community service awards and awards based on their evaluation categories.

In addition to the money, the Distinguished Young Woman of America will travel the country promoting the program’s initiative of “Be Your Best Self,” designed to combat issues children face including obesity, high school drop out rates and promote interest in their communities and service. The program consists of five principles: be healthy, be involved, be studious, be ambitious and be responsible.

“I think it is a great program, it is something I would want to be promoting even if I didn’t win because it has five awesome principles,” Favero said.

She said she would love to be chosen as the winner of the competition.

“It is a really good opportunity to represent such a big program and be the one representing for the whole year would just be awesome,” Favero said.

The competition will be held June 29 through July 1. The awards will be given July 1 at 7 p.m. To view a live webcast of the finals, visit www.DistinguishedYW.org.