CONTRIBUTED TO THE OBSERVER
AUBURN — Distiguished Young Woman of Lee County Cate Herring, a senior at Auburn High School, competed against 41 other participants representing counties throughout the state at the Distinguished Young Women (DYW) of Alabama program held Jan. 19-20 in Montgomery.
Participants were evaluated in five phases of competition: scholastics, interview, talent, self-expression, and fitness.
Herring was named a top-eight finalist, and she received scholarship awards in the self-expression and talent categories. During the preliminary self-expression competition, Herring was asked what skill she would like to gain and how she would use it. She stated as an aspiring attorney, she would like to gain the skill of conflict resolution. A competition dancer at Variations Dance Studio, Herring impressed the judges with her performance of a contemporary ballet en pointe entitled, “Planetarium,” featuring music from her favorite film, La La Land.
In total, she received $1,600 in cash scholarships from the Alabama DYW program. Combined with her awards from winning the Lee County DYW program, Herring has received $4,100 to use toward her education at Auburn University.
Current high school juniors interested in participating in the program are invited to attend an information session hosted in the library of Opelika High School on Tuesday, Feb. 6, at 6 p.m. Anyone interested in the program can also email lee@distinguishedyw.org for more information.
ABOUT DISTINGUISHED YOUNG WOMEN
Founded in 1958, Distinguished Young Women is a free program that encourages participants to reach their full individual potential. Its mission is to empower young women by providing over $1 billion in scholarship opportunities throughout the local, state, and national levels, connecting participants with a nationwide network of women, developing their self-confidence, and preparing them for success after high school.