The Distinguished Young Women of Turlock Class of 2013 scholarship program was held last night at the Turlock Community Theatre where the program saw one of its biggest crowds in the 47 year history of the event (formerly known as Turlock Junior Miss).
The program’s co-chairs, Kristi Garcia and Monica Roberts, put together another great event for the Class of 2013. They also fulfilled the duties of choreographers, along with Cindy Alamo, Siera Garcia, and Nicole Macedo.
Dr. Curt Andre, our former Turlock Mayor, was once again the Master of Ceremonies. As usual, he ran the program smoothly. A lot of experience may have helped as Andre explained that he started fulfilling the MC duties when he had black hair and now he has grey hair.
The crowd was entertained with a funny performance by past participants (Has Beens Class of 2012) and dance entertainment Backstage Academy of Dance while the judges tallied the scores.
The Distinguished Young Women of Turlock Scholarship program lasted about 4 hours and included 28 participants: Ashley Yonan, Andrea Perez, Macy Lotspeich, Mallory Patino, Mackenzie Spycher, Celina Peralta, Ashlyn Inman, Estrella Isiordia, Lexi Silva, Claire Silva, Mallory Whisenhunt, Chloe Fernandes, Madison Beard, Jenna Anderson, Amanda Chartrand, Kylie Harvey, Natalia Lima, Stefanie Velasquez, McKenna Hooker, Marcelle Winkler, Jessica Macedo, Zara Lopez, Taylor Ann Tilby, Hannah Fontes, Dakota Rae Howell, Mallori Powell, Nicole Larson, and Vanessa Acosta.
The Distinguished Young Women of Turlock program is not about just having a pretty face, but rather the young women were judged on grades, physical fitness, poise and appearance, talent and an interview.
Contestants competed in all of these categories and were judged on: Interview (25% of total decision), Talent (25%), Scholastics (20%), Fitness (15%) and Self-Expression (15%).
Two women were given the title of Distinguished Young Woman of Turlock; one will be South Turlock’s Distinguished Young Woman Class of 2013 and the other will be North Turlock’s Distinguished Young Woman Class of 2013.
Nicole Larson won the title of Distinguished Young Woman of South Turlock 2013 and Stefanie Velasquez won the title of Distinguished Young Woman of North Turlock 2013. Nicole and Stefanie will replace Class of 2012 Distinguished Young Women of Turlock, Madison Patino (South) and Ashley Gomez (North).
Nicole Larson won a total of $1,800 in scholarships as she won awards in the Interview, Fitness, Self-Expression, and Talent categories. Stefanie Velasquez won a total of $1,400 in scholarships after winning awards in the Fitness and Self-Expression categories.
Nicole and Stefanie now advance to the state competition, Distinguished Young Women of California, to be held in Bakersfield. The California state winner then competes in the national competition, America’s Junior Miss, in Mobile, Alabama on June 28-30, 2012. All State Distinguished Young Women will compete for more than $140,000 in cash scholarships and the opportunity to represent the program as the Distinguished Young Woman of America.
In the event that Nicole or Stefanie is not able to fulfill any of her duties as Turlock’s Distinguished Young Woman throughout the year, runner-ups will step up to take their place.
Ashlyn Inman was awarded the title of First Runner-Up and $1,050 in scholarships while winning awards in the Scholastic and Talent categories.
Mallory Patino was awarded the title of Second Runner-Up and $1,000 in scholarships while winning awards in the Interview, Fitness, and Self-Expression categories.
Scholarships were awarded based on collective total scores from judges comprised of various areas including what the judges saw during the evening program, previous interviews conducted earlier in the day, transcripts of the participants’ scholastic achievements, as well as votes the participants took among each other for who they thought should win certain awards.
There were 4 scholarships awards for each category, while also awarding Turlock’s 2nd Annual “Special Recognition” scholarship awards. There was also a category that was voted on by all the participants, “Spirit” award and another category that had no bearing on the overall winners, “Be Your Best.”
Here are the results for each category:
2013 Be Your Best Self Award ($150 scholarship):
Jenna Anderson
Natalia Lima
Jessica Macedo
Mallory Whisenhunt
2013 Spirit Award ($150 scholarship):
Hannah Fontes
McKenna Hooker
Lexi Silva
Madison Beard
2013 Scholastic Award ($200 scholarship):
Andrea Perez
Natalia Lima
Taylor Ann Tilby
Ashlyn Inman
2013 Interview Award ($200 scholarship):
Mallory Patino
Jenna Anderson
McKenna Hooker
Nicole Larson
2013 Fitness Award ($200 scholarship):
Mallory Patino
Stefanie Velasquez
Nicole Larson
Jessica Macedo
2013 Self-Expression Award ($200 scholarship):
Mallory Patino
McKenna Hooker
Stefanie Velasquez
Nicole Larson
2013 Talent Award ($200 scholarship):
Mackenzie Spycher
Ashlyn Inman
Marcelle Winkler
Nicole Larson
2013 Special Recognition ($300 scholarship):
McKenna Hooker
Natalia Lima
2013 Second Runner-Up ($400 scholarship):
Mallory Patino
2013 First Runner-Up ($650 scholarship):
Ashlyn Inman
Distinguished Young Woman of South Turlock 2013 ($1,000 scholarship)
Nicole Larson
Distinguished Young Woman of North Turlock 2013 ($1,000 scholarship)
Stefanie Velasquez
