Portue named Distinguished Young Woman of Cd'A
<p>From left, finalist scholarship winner Kathryn Liegert, 2016 Distinguished Young Woman of Coeur d'Alene Heather Portue and runner-up scholarship winner Molly Sullivan smile for the camera after the 2016 DYW program in the Kroc Center on April 25. Heather will continue on to the next level of competition at Distinguished Young Women of Idaho in Pocatello in September, where she will vie for the state title to move to nationals.</p>
COEUR d'ALENE - Lake City High School junior Heather Portue has been named the 2016 Distinguished Young Woman of Coeur d'Alene.
Heather wowed judges during the DYW program, which took place April 24-25 at the Kroc Center. She and 18 other juniors from the Coeur d'Alene School District competed in five categories: scholastics, interview, talent, fitness and self-expression. Heather received the top title and main scholarship as well as a scholarships in scholastics, talent, self-expression and fitness.
"The girls are incredibly ambitious, talented and community-oriented," said program co-director Kim Washko. Washko has been involved with DYW for 10 years. She said the young ladies have to maintain high scholastics and be very ambitious about the program to advance.
"It's pretty grueling," she said, adding that the work is worth it because winners receive scholarships to help pay for college.
"As expensive as school is, it's nice to give them scholarships to continue to the state or national level," Washko said.
Heather will be competing in the Distinguished Young Women of Idaho competition in Pocatello in September. If she receives the state title, she will advance to the national finals competition in Mobile, Alabama next June.
"I think the really wonderful part of the Coeur d'Alene program is it pulls from more than one high school," Washko said. "You have a group of girls who may never have met and they become really close as they participate."
She said this year's contenders were.
"This group was extremely responsible, very giving of themselves to each other and the community," she said. "You could call it the cream of the crop."
Distinguished Young Women, formerly Junior Miss, is a national scholarship program that encourages high school girls to reach their full potentials through an experience that cultivates confidence, selflessness, academic excellence and other quality characteristics. More than 730,000 young women have participated in the program since its inception in 1958.
Info: www.ajm.org