Distinguished Young Woman of Lafayette County Ava Randle will be one of 29 high school seniors competing for more than $35,000 in college scholarships next month.

The week-long 2025 Distinguished Young Women of Mississippi program gets underway on July 11 in Meridian.

Randle, the daughter of Eric and Melanie Randle of Oxford, attends Oxford High School where she has achieved state test perfect scores and is a member of the Beta Club, the OHS Chamber Choir and the FCA Leadership Team. She was a two-time state champion on the Chargerettes Dance Team. She plans to attend Baylor University to pursue a career as a dietician.

Participants are evaluated on academic achievement, fitness, self-expression, talent and interview questions. Randle has chosen a violin presentation of “The Star Spangled Banner” for the talent competition.

If selected as Distinguished Young Woman of Mississippi, Randle will compete in the Distinguished Young Women of 2025 finals in June of 2025, held in Mobile, Alabama.

The state program is now in its 68th year celebrating and spotlighting outstanding achievements of the state’s best and brightest high school women.

“We are extremely excited about this year’s program,” said Sid Wilkinson, State Chairman of the Distinguished Young Women of Mississippi Program. “Distinguished Young Women celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of high school women and offers them cash scholarship opportunities to further their education and to develop their self-confidence.”

For more information about Distinguished Young Women, contact Carly Bragg, National Headquarters Marketing and Communications Director, at 251-438-3621 or carly@distinguishedyw.org or visit www.DistinguishedYW.org.