Abigail Feldman wins Distinguished Young Woman of NY

Lyndonville teen advances to Nationals in Alabama

Abigail Feldman

LYNDONVILLE – A Lyndonville girl was named the Distinguished Woman of New York during a competition at SUNY Albany today.

Abigail Feldman, 17, won the title and advances to the national competition in June in Mobile, Ala. She won while competing with seven other high school seniors from the state.

“It was definitely nerve-wracking but it was such a rush,” Abigail said by phone from Albany.

The Distinguished Young Woman formerly was called the Junior Miss. Abigail’s sister, Margaret, won the Orleans County title for Junior Miss in 2009. Their mother Christina competed in the Junior Miss when she was a high school senior.

“My family has been involved in it and I’ve heard nothing but good about the program,” Abigail said.

Orleans County no longer runs the Junior Miss or Distinguished Young Woman program. Abigail competed in the state event as an at-large candidate. She would like to stir interest in restarting the program in Orleans County.

She didn’t have the experience of going through the competition before today’s state event. But she said she had an advantage in going to a small school district.

“Others had a lot of preparation,” she said. “Being in a small community adds to my confidence and gives me people skills.”

Abigail won the title based on the cumulative scores for scholastics, interview, talent, fitness and self expression. She also won the scholastics award.

For her talent, she played “Flight of the Bumblebee” on the marimba. The daughter of Timothy and Christina Feldman is undecided on her college choice.  She listed sociocultural anthropologist as a career goal.

Abigail won two scholarships at today’s competition. She will be gone for two weeks in June for the national program. The finals will be June 26-28, which falls during Lyndonville’s graduation.