Quite a day for the organization formally known as: "America's Junior Miss." You may have heard it has a new name. Now proudly: Distinguished Young Women. Those who call the shots wanted to distance the organization from other pageants that focus on looks and not the past and future accomplishments of its contestants. DYW is all about scholarship and talent... and thankfully, oyster eating. I hate to admit it, but being an oyster lover myself, the contestants annual trip to Wentzel's for an oyster eating contest is one of my annual highlights! Its nice they don't take themselves too seriously.
Those of us here at Local 15 are proud to be big supporter of DYW. The organization has been a large part of Mobile for decades, and has provided countless young ladies an opportunity to gain confidence, and in many cases, a college education. DYW has gone through a lot of growing pains lately. A name change was simply a byproduct of trying to keep the organization updated and relevant. Beauty pageants haven't fared well lately, and by way of an unfortunate osmosis, DYW has suffered.
Distinguished Young Women is surviving, and the fundraisers held Wednesday at the Mitchell Center went a long way in keeping the organization alive. At 11 am, we welcomed hundreds of ladies in for the "7th on the Hill" fashion show. Among the beauties on the runway were my co-anchor Kym Thurman, along with morning anchor Angela Martin and meteorologist Dietra Tate. They looked stunning (as always). I helped out by auctioning off some pretty impressive prize packages. It was a heckuva show.
Then in the evening, I was back at the Mitchell Center to work the runway for the father/daughter evening "Rockin' the Runway." Another fashion show, with a much younger flare. It too was amazing. 10's of thousands of dollars were raised, and the lifeblood of the program beats on.
Congrats to all the folks who are working so hard to keep this program alive. It is nice to know in an era during which many family values are being attacked, there is an organization dedicated to celebrating those values!
