Four Royal ladies to compete for Distinguished Young Woman title

ROYAL CITY - Samantha Solis, Jennifer Ruiz, Evelyn Martinez and Morgan Small will put their everything on the line this Saturday evening, March 9, when they compete for the title of Royal City Distinguished Young Woman.

Solis, daughter of Jose and Tina Solis, will be doing a military-style clogging routine for her talent. Ruiz, daughter of Maria and Alex Ruiz, will play the theme song from Titanic on her flute.

Martinez, daughter of Susana and Luis Martinez, will be playing the marimbas for her talent. Small, whose parents are Warren and Cynthia Small, will also be clogging to the song "5,6,7,8."

"The girls have been working on learning routines and preparing for the program since the middle of January," DYW chairperson Lisa Christensen said. "They practice twice a week."

This year's theme is, "I'm From the Country, and I Like It That Way." Dain Craver will, once again, be the emcee for the program.

"We are grateful to have him back," Christensen said. "He contributes a lot to the success of the evening."

Participation has been as much about giving as receiving. The girls visit Coventry Assisted Living center and do their program for the residents. Throughout the year, the girls also sponsor a visit with Santa for the youths of the community and do other community service related to the Summerfest celebration.

In this year's program, the girls will be doing a country line dance, choreographed by Christensen, as the opening number. This portion of the program is not judged but only introduces the contestants and the theme to the audience.

"It's really a lot of fun," Christensen said.

The first judged portion of the program is the fi fitness routine, choreographed by the 2012 Distinguished Young Woman, Makynlee Miller. The fitness portion of the program makes up 15 percent of the contestants' scores.

Next up is talent. The participants are responsible to come up with their own costume and 90-second presentation. This portion makes up 25 percent of their overall score and contestants who exceed the 90-second time limit receive no score in this area.

The Self Expression portion of the program is also 15 percent of the overall score. The contestants are judged on their poise and grace under pressure as well as ability to think on their feet and express themselves as they are asked a question on stage that they must answer.

The self-expression routine this year is to the song "My Wish for You" and was also choreographed by Christensen.

The remaining two categories are not seen on stage The scholastics are judged by an independent and unbiased group of educators, such as Central Basin College.

In the fifth category of competition, five judges from out of the area, who do not know the girls, have a 10-minute interview with each individual girl in which they are asked to evaluate their perception, sense of values, clarity of expression and mental alertness.

The judges interview equals 25% of the overall score. This evaluation process is unique to the Distinguished Young Women program and is meant to put emphasis on scholarship, leadership and talent.

Last year the Distinguished Young Woman of Royal City was awarded a $2000 scholarship, and there were individual scholarship dollars for the individual category winners.

The program, in the Red Rock Elementary School Gym, will start at 7 p.m. Tickets are $8.00 in advance from any contestant or at Harvest Foods. Tickets are also available at the door for $10.00.

"We've also got some great local entertainment lined up for that evening so we hope to see you there and thank you so much for your continued support of this valuable program," Christensen said.