Elizabeth “Ellie” Adams, the 2019 Distinguished Young Woman of Dallas County, will be participating in the upcoming Distinguished Young Women of Alabama Program in Montgomery at Frazer United Methodist Church on Jan. 18-19.

Her week will begin on Jan. 11 where she will be staying with Drew and Amy Johnson who are one of the program’s host families. Her roommates for the week will be the Dale County and Marengo County Distinguished Young Women Samantha Adams and Sue Ellen Broussard.

Adams currently attends John T. Morgan Academy and she is the daughter of Bart and Stacey Adams.

She is active in many activities at her school including serving as the Student Government Association (SGA) President and Homecoming Queen and plays on the varsity girls basketball and tennis teams.

High school seniors from across Alabama will join in Montgomery for the program.

While at the program, the girls will visit various groups and community venues all while preparing for the program. Participants will compete for $41,000 in cash scholarships and over $2 million in college-granted scholarships, and the opportunity to represent the state as the Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama.

The women competing will be evaluated by a panel of five judges in scholastics, which counts for 25 percent; interview, which counts for 25 percent; fitness, which counts for 15 percent; self-expression, which counts for 15 percent and talent, which counts for 20 percent.

The participant selected as the Distinguished Young Woman of Alabama will advance to the national level at the 61st Distinguished Young Women National Finals in Mobile in June of this year, where she will join 49 other state representatives in competing for cash scholarships and the opportunity to represent the program as the Distinguished Young Woman of America.

The program was founded in 1958 in Mobile and is considered the largest and oldest national scholarship program for high school girls. The program has impacted the lives of over 730,000 participants, and last year, the program provided more than $367 million in cash and college scholarship opportunities to program participants at the local, state and national level.

The program was once known as  America’s Junior Miss but was changed in June 2010.