From the time it took her to move from her spot among 18 other junior girls to center stage, Emma Havrilla’s face was already wet with tears. She was not crying from sadness, disappointment or fear. Instead, she was expressing the excitement of being crowned Portage’s 2017 Distinguished Young Woman while attempting to come to terms with the shock of the announcement.
“I was not expecting it,” Havrilla said. “I was just so thankful for everyone supporting me through this.”
Havrilla was always ready with a great sense of humor and a positive spirit during the rehearsal process, senior and Class of 2016 DYW Claire Hagan said.
“She’s such a genuine person and she truly deserves [to win],” Hagan said.
Despite the bittersweet feelings she has toward letting go, Hagan is happy to be passing on her title to Havrilla.
“I’m glad I’m passing it to someone who is capable of handling all the responsibilities of a DYW, but it’s sad to see all of the stuff I’ve done this year come to an end,” Hagan said.
Havrilla hopes to use the title of DYW to serve a greater role in society.
“I expect to step up as a leader and make a positive impact on everyone around me and be more of a mentor,” Havrilla said.
Havrilla continuously expressed gratitude for the help of her friends and family during the program.
“Thank you to everyone who’s supported me and encouraged me through all the practices and everything, especially my parents,” Havrilla said.
Other finalists included Allison Stanley, First Runner Up; Ari Scott, Second Runner Up; Becca Wireman, Third Runner Up; and Kailey Mason, Fourth Runner Up.
Scott was also awarded the Spirit of DYW award, which is voted on by the girls. Valerie Plinovich and Ashley Drake won the Joe Stevens and Hanley Awards, respectively.
The night before, preliminary awards went to Havrilla and Sofia Serrano for Academics, Gina Tibbs and Raquel McCafferty for Self Expression, Simone Edwards and Holly Shackleton for Fitness and Abigail Hughes and Marily Flores for Talent.
This year, Havrilla and her fellow competitors faced new challenges unlike those of any class before them.
For the first time ever, the girls were not given the Self Expression question during their morning rehearsal for which to practice if they made the Top 10. Instead, each girl had to pick one of five different questions from a bowl and come up with an answer on the spot. This, according to DYW sponsor Carrie Martin-Williams, is based on new State rules.
In addition, only 19 girls chose to take part in DYW this year, the smallest the Portage program has ever seen. Although the Class of 2016’s group was the biggest to-date, in comparison, it had 43 participants.
A Judge’s Interview and Scholastic Achievement, both worth 25 percent of a contestant’s total score, are not performed in front of an audience and were unaffected. However, for preliminary judging in Talent (20%), Fitness (15%) and Self Expression (15%), the girls are spit into smaller groups and usually perform one category each night. The small turnout left no choice but to have only two groups of girls and two preliminary nights instead of three. Each group performed talent on one night and Self Expression and Fitness together on another night.
Martin said she prefers numbers in the 30s, where groups sit comfortably around 12 girls each.
She hopes this year, where the girls are in a self-described class of “non-joiners” across all school activities, is just a fluke and more will join next year.
Judge Lisa Ford also expressed a desire to return the numbers to their former glory.
“I hope that this is just something, for whatever reason, and that more girls take the opportunity to have this experience next year,” Ford said.
Ford has judged in the past with the more average-sized groups and said it is actually easier during a normal year.
“It’s much more difficult [now] because you really have the cream of the crop,” Ford said. “All of the girls are really top notch, and it’s made it extremely difficult to judge because everyone looks good up there. Each of them have qualities that make them shine in their own individual way.”
As far as atmosphere goes, 19 seemed to work well.
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This group, they were a really easy bunch of girls,” Martin said. “I didn’t have to worry about cliques or small groups wandering off. Because there was only 19, it was easier to keep them corralled together, and I think that I saw, through them, a sisterhood where they really enjoyed each other.”
Last year's DYW, Hagan sees a noticeable change between her year and this year due to the smallness.
“Its been such a great experience teaching everybody because they’ve all been so nice to each other and they’ve all been so encouraging to each other and uplifting, and there’s no cattiness or anything,” Hagan said. “I’m so unbelievably proud of everybody in this scholarship program, and I know they’re all going to do amazing in the future.”