Jaiden: Distinguished Young Woman of Southern Utah 2021-2022!!!

Jaiden has been participating in the Distinguished Young Women Scholarship Program for Southern Utah over the past couple of months. Last year and this year the program was done online due to Covid. It has been a lot of work and quite stressful since Jaiden is already involved in so many things. (But it was worth it!) There were about six workshops where the girls were taught about the program and also about life skills. They also taught the girls the fitness routine and shared interview tips. The workshops were on the same night Jaiden has dance and so she had to miss a couple of the workshops (or watch the recording of the workshop later on). The contestants committed to collect at least $300.00 from sponsors. This was a bit out of her comfort zone, but she ended up with about $450.00 in sponsorships.

The girls were judged in five areas: Scholastic, Talent, Fitness, Self-Expression, and Interview. There was a lot of information to navigate for this program and several deadlines. For Scholastic she was required to turn in a transcript, ACT scores, and academic record signed by her school counselor. For the talent category the contestants chose and created a talent and then turned in a video submission of their talent, limited to 90 seconds. For the fitness category the contestants learned a specific fitness routine that incorporated coordination, strength, and stamina and submitted a video submission of the routine. Self-Expression included a 20-30 second response to a question on the day of the showcase and the Interview included a ten-minute interview in front of several judges. The self-expression and interview were both done on Zoom.

Jaiden had two mock interviews – one with Heidi Wakefield, the DYW Director, and another with a couple of past DYW winners. Rick and I also tried to ask her possible interview questions over the past couple of weeks whenever we got the chance (which was difficult with her busy schedule). 

Today was the day when the interview and self-expression would be performed! She got a list of eight self-expression questions last night (one for each competing girl) with an explanation that they would be drawing each question out of a bowl. Jaiden performed in her school straight play last night (and all last week). Then she went to Denny’s with the cast to celebrate. So, she did not get home until midnight. She started preparing for the self-expression questions as soon as she woke up until the time of her afternoon interview. She was very nervous, but said that they both went pretty well!  

There were eight girls competing from the various high schools in the area and tonight they announced the winners. Jaiden was one of the winners of all five categories – AND was the overall winner! She is the new Distinguished Young Women for Southern Utah! She will also go on and compete in the State competition in October! We are so excited for her! Congratulations, Jaiden!! (She won $1150.00 in scholarship money). Here is her talent video!   

      

Here is the link: https://youtu.be/D2Veoit_Wdw

Here is Jaiden in her interview and talent dress: 

Here are a few pictures from the photoshoot that Alicia did when she was down for Easter Break. She also videotaped Jaiden's talent for us. Thanks, Alicia! 

 https://www.facebook.com/AliciaWestraPhotography/

Program Results: 

Scholastics:

$175- Ruby Ludlow

$175- Elthura Campbell

$175- Jaiden Jensen

 

Interview:

$150- Ellie Zierse

$150- Ruby Ludlow

$150-Jaiden Jensen

 

Fitness:

$100- Kaliya Roberts

$100- Ruby Ludlow

$100- Jaiden Jensen

 

Talent:

$125- Libby Pike

$125- Ruby Ludlow

$125- Jaiden Jensen

 

Self Expression:

$100- Charity Barnes

$100- Ruby Ludlow 

$100- Jaiden Jensen

 

BYBS Award:

$100- Emily Williams

$100- Elthura Campbell

$100- Kaliya Roberts

 

($500) Distinguished Young Woman of St. George- Ruby Ludlow 

($500) Distinguished Young Woman of Southern Utah- Jaiden Jensen