Founded in 1958, the Distinguished Young Women(DYW) program was formed to provide a way to reward high school juniors for their achievements, specifically to ones seeking a higher education. Now, it provides scholarship opportunities to juniors nationwide.
This year, they had six participants, four from SDHS and two from Hixson High School. The participants from SDHS were juniors Abby Space, Emma Aslinger, Lena Skiles, and Lindsey Suttles. Abby won the title of 2025 Distinguished Young Women of River City, the talent award, and the self-expression award, Emma placed second and won the fitness award, Lena won the interview and spirit award and Lindsey won the academic award.
Abby performed a baton twirling routine to “Part of Me” by Katy Perry for her talent. Abby was then asked how she’d felt when they announced her name, she responded by saying “I was so shocked when it happened I can barely remember, I never expected to win and I felt like I was on cloud nine for the rest of the weekend.”
We interviewed Abby to get an idea of what her experience was like as a participant. Abby said, “It was the best experience. I went into it super nervous because I’ve never been good at talking to new people and I was scared i wouldnt fit in, but the other participants and board of directors were all so welcoming. Even though we only got to practice together for 2 weeks, I made memories I’m always going to remember.”
The next step for Abby is participating in the 2025 Distinguished Young Women of Tennessee program held at Lee University this coming July.
For any upcoming juniors who would like to participate in the program next year, go to https://distinguishedyw.org/
