Excellence

This evening was our ward's annual Young Women in Excellence night. This event is a chance to recognize the young women for the good things they are doing and to celebrate the Personal Progress program. It's an opportunity for the young women to share projects or experiences they've completed during the year and show off their skills and talents a little.

It's been a good year for Personal Progress for the Moran girls. Samantha has almost been in Young Women for an entire year and she has also been setting and achieving goals through the Personal Progress program. Samantha has been developing her talent for art this year and she brought several of her drawings to display that I hadn't seen before. She's got an amazing ability! I'm a little burnt out with Samantha being our fourth child to enter Young Women, but she just keeps at it and I can tell she's learning so much and building a strong foundation for her testimony of Christ.


Abigail has been diligently working on her value projects and is very close to completing Personal Progress. She has a plan in place for each of her remaining projects and we've loved seeing her dedication to her goals. She's worked on family history, planned and carried out multiple activities for the Young Women in the ward, and is working on making a skirt with minimal help. Abby is a special young lady and a blessing for our family.


Emily earned an Honor Bee, which is an additional award that can be earned after young women complete their Personal Progress. There are two requirements that must be met to earn an Honor Bee. First, you have to read the Book of Mormon. Second, you have to complete 40 hours of service for others. We're proud of Emily for her continued desire to learn and grow through Personal Progress. She could have decided to be finished with the program as she has earned her Young Womanhood Medallion, but she wanted to go the extra mile.


The theme for the evening was "Be-you-tiful" and each young woman was asked to share how being a daughter of God makes them feel beautiful. Not beautiful in the sense of being attractive on the outside, but inner beauty that comes from kindness, good judgment, a desire to learn, humility and other good qualities. Their Young Women leaders did an amazing job planning the evening. There were photos of each girl displayed at the front of the room that were taken by a talented sister in our ward. They had tables along the back with spaces for each Young Woman to display what they've  accomplished this year.


I love Young Women and the Personal Progress program because it has helped our girls to really develop spiritually, physically, and mentally. It's forced them to stretch in ways they wouldn't have otherwise and given them opportunities to serve, to lead, and to learn. 
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