The Distinguished Young Woman program has always had a way of creating new friendships and a unique sisterhood among its participants.
Along with creating a little family on its own, with its strong history, family members from each generation have participated in DYW, and there have been occasions when grandmothers, moms, daughters, and even aunts from the same family have worn the title of Clarke County DYW at some point.
With this year’s program, a unique family connection in DYW has been made. This year’s DYW, Lily Kate Johnson, is actually the great niece of the oldest living Junior Miss, Karen “Crickett” Kennedy.
“The first Junior Miss was in 1967, but she’s died. I was Junior Miss in 1968,” expressed Crickett. “I was our second Junior Miss, but I’m the oldest living one.”
Of course, there have been some changes to the program over the years. With Lily Kate being declared 2027 DYW for Clarke County, it is interesting to see how things have changed from those first few years that Clarke County had the program when her great aunt received the title to how the program currently works.
“It was Junior Miss when I was in school,” explained Crickett. “We were seniors when I participated. They’re juniors now, but we were seniors. I was chosen to be Junior Miss. We didn’t have a Clarke County program like we do now. I was chosen by a committee. There were multiple girls running, but the committee chose a winner to go to the state competition. I think they may have started the actual program in Clarke County around the year after me. I think Robin Moffett was the first Junior Miss that actually had a program here.”
As the 1968 Junior Miss, she represented Clarke County in the state program in Meridian. While many things about the program are similar, there have been some additions made over the years.
“I was so young that I didn’t have a chance to be scared, and we didn’t put into it what they do now,” continued Crickett. “It was more natural. Getting up in front of somebody doesn’t bother me, so that never did scare me. What was the most difficult for me, even over the interview, was the fitness. Y’all take dance and all that kind of stuff, but we never did that. We just got up there that week and went into calisthenics. You would hurt so bad that you could not move. We used muscles we didn’t even know we had. That was harder than the interview. We had talent. I played the organ. The man that my mother and daddy bought my organ from had a business in Meridian on Main Street, and he brought me an organ and a side man to use. The side man was a box that gave rhythms and a little backup song and all. It gave me a little background, but I carried the majority on the organ. We didn’t have a self-expression question that we had to answer on stage.”
Like most, if not all, who have held the title over the years, Crickett remembers how her favorite thing about the program was the friendships she was able to make.
She can also recall being able to participate in a couple of the programs years later.
“There were one or two years where they called us previous winners back and called us ‘Has Beens,’” recalled Crickett. “We did a couple of numbers during the program. It was fun.”
Naturally, many families have generations who compete in the program. Along with Crickett being the oldest living winner, Lily Kate’s mom was declared to be the first alternate in the 2001 program.
Part of the reason generation after generation in the same family competes is because of everything the program represents and embodies. It is more than just a beauty pageant.
“The program meant something to the women who participated, so they tried to involve their family later on,” expressed Crickett. “It’s good to teach them and help them grow. That’s why I like the Distinguished Young Woman title now. It’s not just a beauty pageant, and that title shows more of what it really is.”
Over the years, Lily Kate has heard about DYW from her family and was encouraged by them to participate. Like Crickett, she now fully understands the significance of the program and what it stands for.
“Somebody told me years ago that it’ll change your life and is a life-altering opportunity. At first, I thought it was just a beauty pageant and wondered how it could do that,” informed Lily Kate. “Now, I completely stand behind what all those people said. It pushes you to be just like what it says, ‘The Best Version of Yourself.’ You have to maximize everything that you thought you were and push yourself to be the greatest, not over your competition, but simply for yourself. You have to be the greatest version of you in order to win. I think that’s beautiful. I also see this side of it. In a beauty pageant, you can make yourself into anything, but for this, whatever strengths and talents that God gives you, you apply them and give them back. You use what God has given you to be involved with more people in your generation. I think that’s important.”
When Lily Kate decided she was going to participate in the program, she did everything she could to start preparing for it. At the time, she didn’t really even think about how Crickett held the title when the program was first getting started. She was simply asking for advice from people she trusts the most, Crickett included.
“Before DYW started, I was going to people that I trust to listen to me and give me criticism on the piano and different aspects of the program. I came to Crickett, and it was kind of like a full circle moment because it’s someone you’re closely related to, someone you trust to be an advisor, and someone who’s had the experience of the program. There’s like a sisterhood there,” declared Lily Kate. “It was like a middle ground for two distinguished young women prior to that event. When I came to get her advice and everything beforehand leading up to the program, one thing she told me that stuck out was that whenever I sit down to play the piano, understand that God will move my hands where He wants to move them. If that’s in the direction of the song, then that will be the direction. It gave me a newfound confidence because whenever I sat down at the piano that night, I knew that if it was in God’s will for the song to come out exactly like it was supposed to then it would. It did.”
Now that she has won the title of DYW, Crickett had even more advice from her thanks to her own experience in the past.
“Cherish every moment, and try to remember everything,” stressed Crickett. “Don’t just let something slide by. Think about everything that happens. It doesn’t matter if it’s just somebody picking something off the floor and throwing it in the garbage. Try to remember everything.”
Although she is just getting started as DYW, Lily Kate also has a recommendation for other young ladies after talking to Crickett about her own experience:
“As two people that have been in the Distinguished Young Woman’s sisterhood, I would recommend it to every young girl that is willing to put themselves out there and make the leap of confidence.”
