Recent Crawfordsville High School graduate Katherine Novak was honored at a send-off celebration attended by family, friends and members of the Distinguished Young Women of Montgomery County and Indiana programs on Tuesday, as she prepares to compete for a national title.
Novak, who won both the Montgomery County and Indiana Distinguished Young Women titles, will represent Indiana at America’s Distinguished Young Women in Mobile, Alabama, later this month. She will compete against 49 other young women from across the country for the national title and a first-place scholarship of $35,000.
Novak is the first Montgomery County participant to win the Indiana title since 1966. She has already earned a $10,000 scholarship through the state competition.
Novak, who will attend Kenyon College this fall, said the program has helped her develop confidence and communication skills that will benefit her regardless of the outcome of the national competition.
“Overall, it’s given me a lot of confidence and a lot of guidance in my ability to speak,” Novak said.
She said the program also helped her build friendships and improve her interview skills through scholarship and college application processes.
Distinguished Young Women is the nation’s oldest and largest scholarship program for high school girls. The organization says it has made available more than $1 billion in college scholarship opportunities and provides participants with life skills workshops focused on leadership, communication and personal development.
