LDS Church presents Young Womanhood Recognition Awards to local girls

Earlier this year, several young ladies belonging to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints earned a special honor called the Young Womanhood Recognition Award, which is received after completing a program called “Personal Progress.”The program is available to young women, starting at age 12, who choose to participate. There are eight categories that must be completed, and each section is based on qualities and principles that the youth are encouraged to develop and use in day-to-day life.  These vibrant, lovely and cheerful young ladies have memorized the eight different categories, called the Values, and can list them off rapid-fire when asked.Editor’s note: This is part three of a series of four articles featuring some of the young women who earned the award in 2015.Terrin Clark [caption id="attachment_10765" align="alignright" width="200"] Terrin Clark[/caption]Lovell 1st WardTerrin is a fairly quiet young lady, but when she was asked about earning her award, she talked about it with excitement and confidence. She mentioned that, like many of these young ladies, finding the necessary time to finish things really seemed to be one of the hardest things about the whole process. She felt that working toward this goal was something that helped her grow spiritually, and she decided that she liked the Faith category best out of the eight.[caption id="attachment_10761" align="alignleft" width="200"] Grace Edwards[/caption]Grace Edwards Lovell 2nd WardGrace had a hard time picking out just one favorite but chose Faith because “it can help with whatever you need. Faith in the little things can help in all aspects of life.” She chose one project in the Good Works category that had very personal meaning; she held a bake sale where she raised money to donate to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society in the name of her grandmother, Carla Edwards.When asked if there was anything else she’d like to mention, she said, “I love it. I’m doing (the program) over again on my own. It has increased my testimony so much.  I just love it.”Jillian Banks  [caption id="attachment_10762" align="alignleft" width="200"] Jillian Banks[/caption]Lovell 1st WardJillian’s favorite values are Virtue and Knowledge. “I really pushed to start my Personal Progress at first, but once I got into high school, it didn’t matter as much at the time. One thing that was really hard for me was reading the Book of Mormon; I was so worried I wouldn’t finish it in time, and a Young Women’s leader told me that listening to the recorded version on my MP3 player could count.  So I was able to finish it pretty quickly!”For one of her more intense projects involving Knowledge, she pushed for – and received – her GED.  A chronic illness earlier in her schooling forced her to try home school; but with continued health issues she was not able to finish, and she worried about having to retake her entire junior year.  However, by preparing herself for the exam with the aid of several four-hour-long classes, and then completing “what felt like the greatest test I’d ever taken,” she achieved her goal of gaining her high school equivalency diploma, and with it, finishing yet another goal toward her medallion award.Mylee McArthur[caption id="attachment_10763" align="alignright" width="200"] Mylee McArthur[/caption] Lovell 4th Ward“What was interesting to me was that I found I was living some of the values already, and could count it toward some of the goals; a lot of us were already doing the things we needed to be doing,” said Mylee, 16.  When asked why she thought it worked that way, she mentioned that great parenting and good church leaders have taught her to live in a way that already helps meet many of the goals involved in personal progress. Mylee said she’s reminded of a scripture that says, “Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old, he will not depart from it,” from Proverbs 22:6.  She chose a gold medallion for her award.[caption id="attachment_10764" align="alignleft" width="200"] Nicole Wardell[/caption]Note: Nichole Wardell (pictured) was away at college and unavailable for interviews, but also achieved her award earlier this year.

By Wendy Roth