Two Kern County young women will compete for thousands of dollars in scholarships Sunday when the Distinguished Young Women of California hosts its state finals at the Dore Theater on the campus of California State University Ba kersfield.Aundrea Moore of Bakersfield and Sarah-Jane Osborne of Shafter are among 22 competitors from across the state. Competition begins at 1 p.m. The overall winner will advance to the national finals.Moore said the local competition that brought her to this stage was a rewarding experience in itself."The Bakersfield program basically consisted of 5 girls this year, and what we did was just competed between those 5 girls in the categories. And at the end of the day I was able to win, I believe, $1800 in scholarships after I won.""I'm just really grateful for the opportunity because I got to meet girls from different schools and even the ones from my own school that I didn't know, so it was definitely a refreshing opportunity," Moore said.Osborne said the 22 state competitors bonded quickly once they arrived."We met pretty quickly because like you said, it's very just all the girls are together, we're enjoying each other. We did a little bit of icebreakers, get to know you and thankfully everyone's nice there so we just kind of clicked, talked and got along," Osborne said.Moore said the atmosphere backstage reflects that same spirit."On the backstage it's like a friendship more than competition because at the end of the day we meet all these amazing girls and we don't see it as like oh we have to win oh we have to do this we see it as like an opportunity to grow and to change to become a better woman for yourself so I definitely feel like it's like an amazing opportunity just to meet all these girls in general," Moore said.The onstage portion of the competition includes three categories: fitness, self-expression, and talent. Osborne said fitness is her favorite."I think my favorite is definitely fitness. I'm just an athlete, and it's more of a routine, so it's kind of fun to learn a routine and just, I think that's my favorite part," Osborne said.For her talent, Osborne will perform a monologue reciting an original poem she wrote this past year.Moore said talent is her favorite category, and she plans to bring something new to her piano performance."My favorite part is talent because I've been playing the piano since I was really young. And I decided to do a more fast piece this year. So yeah, I gotta do something new and switch it up," Moore said.Beyond the competition itself, both young women said the memories and relationships they are building are what they will carry with them most."Just good memories honestly my favorite part of the whole distinguished young woman program from local to now is all of the girls I've met, all of the last laughs we've had, the late nights, the tired mornings. I just love taking these experiences and these new relationships with me," Osborne said.Moore pointed to a lighter tradition the competitors have started together."I would say it's probably our snack reviews every night, my little house, a snack review. Last night we tried some ramen. As a dorm, so we have two separate houses. I'm in house one and she's in house 2, so our whole house basically got together and convinced our leader to get us enrollment, and we all tried it and it was really fun, and we're hoping to do some more reviews soon," Moore said.Both competitors also have their sights set on college. Moore said her dream school is UC San Diego, though she has not yet applied. Osborne said she has verbally committed to continue her athletic and academic career at Utah Tech University in St. George, Utah, where she will swim.The Distinguished Young Women of California state finals begin at 1 p.m. Sunday, July 26, at the Dore Theater on the CSUB campus.This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracyStay in Touch with Us Anytime, Anywhere: Download Our Free App for Apple and Android Sign Up for Our Daily E-mail Newsletter Like Us on Facebook Follow Us on Instagram Subscribe to Us on YouTube ...read more read less