{"id":150429,"date":"2025-07-09T08:44:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T13:44:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/?p=150429"},"modified":"2025-07-08T16:58:02","modified_gmt":"2025-07-08T21:58:02","slug":"lainey-schuesselin-of-lafayette-county-will-be-competing-in-the-2026-distinguished-young-women-of-mississippi-program-july-17-in-meridian","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/lainey-schuesselin-of-lafayette-county-will-be-competing-in-the-2026-distinguished-young-women-of-mississippi-program-july-17-in-meridian\/","title":{"rendered":"Lainey Schuesselin of Lafayette County Will Be Competing in the 2026 Distinguished\u00a0Young Women of Mississippi Program July 17 in Meridian"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Distinguished-Women-Logo.jpeg?ssl=1\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"182\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Distinguished-Women-Logo-1024x291.jpeg?resize=640%2C182&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-150434\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Distinguished-Women-Logo.jpeg?resize=1024%2C291&amp;ssl=1 1024w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Distinguished-Women-Logo.jpeg?resize=300%2C85&amp;ssl=1 300w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Distinguished-Women-Logo.jpeg?resize=768%2C218&amp;ssl=1 768w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Distinguished-Women-Logo.jpeg?w=1106&amp;ssl=1 1106w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\" \/><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Lainey Schuesselin, Distinguished Young Woman of Lafayette County<\/strong>, will be one of 32 <strong>Mississippi<\/strong>\u00a0high school seniors competing for more than $36,000 in college scholarships when the <strong>2026 Distinguished\u00a0Young Women of Mississippi Program<\/strong> gets underway <strong>Thursday, July 17<\/strong>, in <strong>Meridian, Mississippi<\/strong>.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The state program, which is held in Meridian, Mississippi, is now in its 69th year celebrating and\u00a0spotlighting outstanding achievements of the state\u2019s best and brightest high school women. The three nights\u00a0of competition at <strong>The Evangel Temple<\/strong> concludes on Saturday, July 19. The doors open nightly at 6:30 pm and each show starts promptly at 7:30 pm for the three-night event.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Reserved tickets for the 2026 Distinguished Young Women Program are available for <strong>$65 <\/strong>for a three-night\u00a0 package. General admission tickets are available for <strong>$50 <\/strong>for a three-night package, or may be purchased for\u00a0 individual evenings: <strong>$20<\/strong>, Thursday; <strong>$20<\/strong>, Friday; and <strong>$25<\/strong>, Saturday. Tickets go on sale Monday, June 30,\u00a0and may be obtained by logging on <a href=\"http:\/\/www.purplepass.com\/dywofms26\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">www.purplepass.com\/dywofms26<\/a> or calling 601-480-3438. Visa,\u00a0MasterCard, and American Express are welcome.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\u201cWe are extremely excited about this year\u2019s program,\u201d said <strong>Sid Wilkinson<\/strong>, State Chairman of the\u00a0Distinguished Young Women of Mississippi Program. \u201cDistinguished Young Women of MS celebrates the outstanding accomplishments of high school women and offers them cash scholarship opportunities to\u00a0further their education and to develop their self-confidence.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lainey Schuesselin, the daughter of <strong>John &amp; Nancy Maria Schuesselin <\/strong>of<strong> Oxford<\/strong>, attends <strong>Oxford High School. <\/strong><em>Academic accomplishments, memberships and hobbies include the following: <\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Varsity Dancer\u00a0 (2022-present)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Varsity Tennis player (2021-present)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Individual Qualifier for women\u2019s singles\u00a0(2025)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Raised money for The Pantry in Oxford MS<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Member of the OHS Students For Alzheimer\u2019s\u00a0Club<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Second place in Pom MHSAA (2024)<\/strong><\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Highest Grade in Algebra 2 (2024).<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>She plans to attend\u00a0 <strong>University of Pittsburgh <\/strong>or <strong>University of Mississippi <\/strong>to pursue a career in <strong>Pediatric Surgery<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the week-long program in Meridian, participants are evaluated on scholastic achievement, fitness,\u00a0self-expression, talent, and interview. Lainey has chosen a lyrical dance solo<strong> <\/strong>of <strong>\u201cYou Say\u201d <\/strong>by<strong> Lauren\u00a0 Daigle <\/strong>for her talent.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If selected as Distinguished Young Woman of Mississippi, Lainey Schuesselin<strong> <\/strong>will compete in the\u00a0National Distinguished Young Women of 2026 finals in June of 2026, held in <strong>Mobile, Alabama<\/strong>. There she will compete for the opportunity to win a share of more than $100,000 in cash scholarship awards,\u00a0including the $40,000 national title scholarship award.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Founded in 1958, Distinguished Young Women is a free program that encourages participants to reach their full individual potential. Our mission is to empower young women by providing scholarship opportunities, connecting with a nationwide network of women, developing their self-confidence, and\u00a0participating in our Life Skills Workshops that prepare them for a successful future. National sponsors include Barbara Barrington Jones Family Foundation, Mobile County, City of Mobile, Alabama Power\u00a0Foundation, Master Boat Builders, Gant Travel Management, Regions Financial Corporation, John Cauley Jeweler, Jostens, and Alabama Media Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-full\"><a href=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"25\" height=\"16\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/06\/TheLocalVoiceLigature-25web.jpg?resize=25%2C16\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-14544\"\/><\/a><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Lainey Schuesselin, Distinguished Young Woman of Lafayette County, will be one of 32 Mississippi\u00a0high school seniors competing for<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":238,"featured_media":150433,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[307],"tags":[32116,32115,2837,5,642,4,18707,32117],"class_list":["post-150429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-people","tag-distinguished-young-women-of-mississippi-program","tag-lainey-schuesselin","tag-meridian","tag-mississippi","tag-ms","tag-oxford","tag-scholarship","tag-sid-wilkinson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/07\/Lafayette_Nancy_Elaine_Schuesselin-scaled.jpg?fit=2048%2C2560&ssl=1","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150429","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/238"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=150429"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150429\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":150435,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/150429\/revisions\/150435"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/150433"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=150429"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=150429"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.thelocalvoice.net\/oxford\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=150429"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}