Distinguished Young Women of FL: Central Florida At-Large Program!

So...it just so happened that my fall break from Wheaton College was over the same weekend as the Central Florida At-Large Program! It was such a blessing to get away from the cold weather in Illinois (we had a low in the 20s this weekend!) to enjoy some Florida sunshine — and to meet the 2014 contestants!

The central Florida program is especially close to my heart, since that is where I first began my journey with Distinguished Young Women. I was so excited to return to where I got my start!

The girls began the day by arriving in Winter Garden to learn the fitness and self expression movement routines. After practicing all morning, they then participated in the interview category with our panel of judges. By the time of the performance that afternoon, they had already finished 45% of the competition, Scholastics and Interview. Now it was time for the fun part!
We had 14 girls competing at the at-large program. At-large is different from other locals in that we do not select one representative to proceed to state. Instead, the girls are graded on a point spread and will later be notified if they scored high enough to compete at state. In other words, several girls at any given at-large program could qualify to the state competition.

It was surreal to be behind the podium announcing names when just last year I was one of the contestants. But the girls were fabulous and I just loved getting to see their talent performances and answers to the self-expression questions.