MOUNT VERNON — After struggling for the past several years to define its brand of providing college scholarships and life-enhancing opportunities for young women, America’s Junior Miss has introduced a new name — Distinguished Young Women.

Cheri Butcher, state chairwoman of Ohio Junior Miss Inc. said, “We are excited to report that after months of waiting for the results of the work that the national headquarters has been doing to reposition us for the future, the new name for the national program is Distinguished Young Women, with the tagline Scholarship, Leadership, Talent. Our Ohio program will be Distinguished Young Women of Ohio.”

Distinguished Young Women is the oldest and largest scholarship program for high school girls. Since its inception in 1958, the national organization has provided life-changing experiences for more than 700,000 young women. Last year, Distinguished Young Women provided more than $63 million in cash and college scholarship opportunities. The past four national winners attend Northwestern University, Stanford University, Harvard University and Pepperdine University.

“It may take awhile for us to get used to this new name, but we are confident that we can make the transition smoothly and hope that we can continue to count on the tremendous support that we have received from the State, especially Mount Vernon and Knox County,” Butcher continued.

It will operate as expected this year as Ohio Junior Miss, but the representative chosen at the end of the program will be the first Distinguished Young Women of Ohio.

For more information about the Ohio Junior Miss Program or if anyone is interested in becoming a volunteer, contact Butcher at (740) 399-5104 or e-mail at cbutcher@firstknox.com.