by Lauren Thornton Tobin for the FCT

Russellville High School senior, Anna Catherine Smith, represented Franklin County at the Distinguished Young Woman program in Montgomery, where she won $1,400 in scholarships.

Smith, 17, said the program consists of 50 girls from different counties in Alabama to compete against one another for the state title and scholarship money.

“It’s not a beauty pageant,” she said, emphasizing that the program focuses more on intelligence and self-expression.

The girls are based on categories such as fitness, self-expression, scholastics, talent and an interview portion, Smith said.

Smith said she had to answer a question about the U.S. economy for the self-expression portion, and played the marimba for the talent segment.

“It’s a very intense competition,” she said. “Some girls have been preparing for this for years.”

The scholastics portion is based on each woman’s ACT score and GPA, Smith said.

Smith scored a 32 on the ACT, where the maximum score is a 36.

Smith said she wants to go to college at Auburn University, but will go to the University of Alabama if she gets a full-ride scholarship.

Smith said she has already been awarded the Presidential scholarship at the University of Alabama, which pays tuition and $1,000 towards the technology fee, and is waiting to hear about the Presidential scholarship from Auburn.

“My heart’s in Auburn,” she said.

Smith said she is interested in majoring in mechanical engineering before attending law school.

“I want to work for a company with their patents and any law suits they might have,” she said.

During the week Smith was competing, she was not allowed to have access to her cell phone or the internet.

“I pretty much grew up with my phone, and I couldn’t talk to my parents or siblings,” she said. “It was a little difficult at first not talking to my friends.”

Smith said she was able to receive letters from her family and her host family would read her emails sent from family, but Smith was not allowed to reply to them.

“I’ve never gotten a written letter,” she said. “It’s great, I loved it.”

Smith said she took a journal to write in and brought her iPad so that she could take pictures. She mentioned that other contestants brought disposable cameras.

“I had fun playing with that thing” She said.

Even though she was unable to talk to her friends from home, Smith said she enjoyed making new friends at the competition.

“For the first time, we got to sit down and actually talk to each other, and we became really close,” she said. “We had some really good conversations.”

She said the contestants have planned a reunion in Mobile where they can watch the national competition together.

Smith’s mother, Stephanie Mayfield, said Smith became involved in the competition when they went to a meeting about it and learned of the different opportunities.

Mayfield said this was the first year Smith competed, and she won the Franklin County title.

“She’s very intelligent, and she’s very talented,” Mayfield said. “You have to have more than a pretty face.”

Beth Gilmer, teacher at RHS, agrees with Mayfield.

“She is a leader in almost everything,” Gilmer said. “She is one who everything she does, she does well.”

Gilmer has taught Smith in two different English classes, and is a family friend.

As an AP English teacher, Gilmer said sometimes the literature class is one that challenges and pushes students, but Smith isn’t someone who shies away from that challenge.

“She is a one in a million student,” Gilmer said. “She is one of those who make it a joy to teach.”