A former vice principal and athletic director, Nichole Thiel has spent more than 15 years in education as a teacher or administrator in Idaho. Outside of her interests in education administration, Nichole Thiel participated in the mock interview portion of the Distinguished Young Women (DYW) competition as a judge.
The DYW program has provided young women across the country with help toward earning a college degree. Formerly known as Junior Miss, the competition began in 1958 as a scholarship program sponsored by the Jaycees on the Gulf Coast. The young women from area high schools in Mobile, Alabama, were selected to be Azalea Maids (named after flowers found around the gulf), and soon after, the number of high school women wanting to participate in the competition skyrocketed, with applications arriving from as far away as Florida and Mississippi. After this point, the competition grew to include participants from high schools all around the country.
Today, the DYW competition offers young women from area high schools in Idaho and around the country the chance to participate in an event that has awarded over $110 million in scholarships for college. The scholarship program is not a garden variety pageant, as it has helped notable newsmakers like Diane Sawyer and Deborah Norville fund their college educations. This year almost 3,000 participants competed for more than $1 billion dollars toward educations at almost 400 state and local educational institutions.
The DYW program has provided young women across the country with help toward earning a college degree. Formerly known as Junior Miss, the competition began in 1958 as a scholarship program sponsored by the Jaycees on the Gulf Coast. The young women from area high schools in Mobile, Alabama, were selected to be Azalea Maids (named after flowers found around the gulf), and soon after, the number of high school women wanting to participate in the competition skyrocketed, with applications arriving from as far away as Florida and Mississippi. After this point, the competition grew to include participants from high schools all around the country.
Today, the DYW competition offers young women from area high schools in Idaho and around the country the chance to participate in an event that has awarded over $110 million in scholarships for college. The scholarship program is not a garden variety pageant, as it has helped notable newsmakers like Diane Sawyer and Deborah Norville fund their college educations. This year almost 3,000 participants competed for more than $1 billion dollars toward educations at almost 400 state and local educational institutions.