Distinguished in Post Falls

Abbey Turpin is the 2017 Post Falls Distinguished Young Woman.

To earn the distinction, Turpin competed last weekend against 15 other high school juniors. The event required the girls to compete in five fields: personal talent, self-expression, fitness, academic transcript and a 10-minute interview.

“This was a really great experience, getting to know the 15 other girls that did this with me, because I know I have new friendships with these amazing girls that are all really driven and I never thought I’d get the chance to call them all my friends,” Turpin said.

Distinguished Young Women is a national organization that promotes and rewards girls in their junior and senior years of high school for leadership, talent and scholarship. Since its inception in 1958 when it was still called "America's Junior Miss," DYW has awarded $102 million in cash scholarships.

As the winner for Post Falls, Turpin received a $1,000 scholarship to use at any school of her choice. There were scholarships awarded for the first and second runners-up, for each category of competition and for embodying the spirit of DYW. All scholarship money was donated by local Post Falls businesses or individuals.

Turpin will travel to Idaho Falls in October to compete at the state level against all the other cities’ Distinguished Young Women.

One-quarter of each of the girls’ scores is based on their academic transcript. Another quarter comes from an interview they have before the performance. They are asked a variety of questions pertaining to an online application each girl completed.

When asked why she was so interested in psychology, Turpin replied she wants to understand people and help them. She said, by understanding other people, she can better understand herself.

Mari Clark, in her second year as chairperson of Post Falls’ Distinguished Young Women program, said she likes the way Distinguished Young Women prepares young girls for college applications and job interviews. Clark has also been repeatedly impressed by the kind of women who get involved in the program.

“They were just super supportive of each other and that’s something young women don’t get enough credit for,” she said. “All you hear about is the 'Mean Girls' scenario, but I find, in the two weeks the girls spend together, they bring out the best in them rather than the worst.”

Turpin became interested in Distinguished Young Women as a young girl. The older girls in her dance studio all participated in the program and she looked up to them. Turpin couldn’t wait until it was her year to participate.

“Abbey is very well-spoken, she’s got good stage presence and I think in her interviews with the judges and everything that she was doing, I’m sure that shone through,” Clark said.

Outside school, Turpin enjoys hanging out with her friends and she works as a “bread girl” at Beverly’s.

She also danced until her junior year of high school. Turpin’s favorite part of the Distinguished Young Women production was doing a dance solo for the first time in three years.

“That was a really good experience of getting back in touch with (dancing) and getting to know all these wonderful girls in my class better,” Turpin said. “I realized I was missing out on some really, really amazing people.”

The first finalist was Kaytlyn Brenneman who also won the talent section. Timarie Harrison was the second finalist and won the interview section. Brianna Slattery won the fitness section and Myrisa Laufenberg won the scholastic section. Jessica Zazuetta won self-expression and the Spirit of Distinguished Young Women award.