Participants
Distinguished Young Women participants come from all walks of life, but they have one thing in common: the desire to succeed. Below are the Distinguished Young Women of California participants for the Class of 2022.
Want to participate? Apply now!
Sophia Zaninovich
Bakersfield
City: Bakersfield
College Preference: Apply directly into a nursing program out of state
Career Goals: Nurse
Talent: Singing (Valerie, by Amy Winehouse)
Angela Hao
Buena Park
City: Buena Park
College Preference:
Career Goals:
Talent: Ballet and Chinese fan dance ("Big Fish", by Sung by Zhou Shen)
Alexia Civit
Cardiff-by-the-Sea
City: Cardiff By The Sea
College Preference: University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Career Goals: Field scientist and environmental activist
Talent: Contemporary dance (Heart Cry by Drehz, by Alexia Civit)
Einstina Wang
Central Cypress
City: Cypress
College Preference: Harvard College
Career Goals: Biomedical Researcher
Talent: Piano & Violin (1) Nutcracker-Trepak, 2) Symphonie espagnole in D minor, by 1) Tchaikovsky, 2) Lalo)
Eunice Shin
Central Los Angeles County
City: Los Angeles
College Preference: Brown
Career Goals: Microbiologist, Political Science
Talent: Dance (Pure Water (Clean), by Mustard & Migos)
Shruti Chari
Central San Diego County
City: San Diego
College Preference:
Career Goals:
Talent: Vocal Performance ("I Dreamed A Dream"- Les Miserables, by )
Tiffany Cheng
Cerritos-Artesia East
City: Artesia
College Preference: Yale University
Career Goals: Graphic Designer, Digital Artist
Talent: Dance (Awaiting, by Emily Jing)
Anisha Hemnani
Cerritos-Artesia West
City: Cerritos
College Preference: USC/UCD
Career Goals: Biomedical
Talent: Semi-Classical Indian Dance (Ghar More Pardesiya , by Shreya Ghoshal )
Amara Gaudelli-McGee
Chino
City: Chino
College Preference: Howard University
Career Goals: Law
Talent: Painting and Drawing
Aubrey Ruanto
Delano
City: Delano
College Preference: University of California, Los Angeles
Career Goals: Child Psychologist
Talent: Self-Choreographed Dance (Good Job, by Alicia Keys)
Emily Lee
East Los Angeles County
City: Azusa
College Preference: Wellesley, Brown
Career Goals: Neuroscience Researcher, Artist
Talent: Musical Theatre Performance (Live Out Loud from a Little Princess, by Brian Crawley and Andrew Lippa)
Madeleine Hott
East Riverside
City: Riverside
College Preference: UCLA, UCSD, USC, or Stanford
Career Goals: Marketing Manager for Athletic Corporation
Talent: Pinan Ni Kata
Joy Gao
Garden Grove
City: Garden Grove
College Preference: University of California Irvine
Career Goals: Data Scientist/Business Administration
Talent: Chinese Traditional Dance (Water goddess, by Ling Jin)
Sanvi Pal
Greater San Diego County
City: San Diego
College Preference: Any prestigious engineering school
Career Goals: Engineer
Talent: Bollywood Dance (Ghani Bawri, by Jyoti Nooran)
Flora Yuan
Inland San Diego County
City: San Diego
College Preference:
Career Goals: STEM + Music
Talent: Classical Vocal (Oh! Had I Jubal’s Lyre, by George Frideric Handel)
Skylar Paxton
Lake Forest
City: Lake Forest
College Preference: Boston University
Career Goals: Journalist
Talent: Color Guard (Rifle , by Jessica Rico)
Minh-Nha Kawamura
Livermore
City: Livermore
College Preference: UC Berkeley, Harvard
Career Goals: Surgeon
Talent: Instrument-cello (Prelude from Suite 1 in G Major, by Johann Sebastian Bach)
Emmy Chen
Los Alamitos
City: Los Alamitos
College Preference: Stanford University
Career Goals: Software Engineer
Talent: Chinese Traditional Dance (Imperial Jade, by Lin Niu, Jing Ling)
Anushka Srinivasan
Los Altos
City: Los Altos
College Preference:
Career Goals:
Talent: Bharatanatyam Performance (Shape Of You (Carnatic Mix), by performed by Aditya Rao, IndianRaga, Mahesh Raghvan, and Vinod Krishnan and written by Ed Sheeran)
Emily Zhou
Monte Sereno
City: Monte Sereno
College Preference: Harvard University, Princeton University
Career Goals: Doctor, Biomedical Entrepreneur
Talent: Flute Performance (Andante Pastoral, by Composed by Paul Taffanel)
Natalie Kim
North Cypress
City: Cypress
College Preference: Harvard College
Career Goals: Neuroscientist, Epidemiology Researcher
Talent: Djembe (African Unique Traditional Dance and Music, by Frank Reina)
Japleen Kaur
North Fremont
City: Fremont
College Preference: UC Berkeley, Carnegie Mellon University
Career Goals: Computer Science
Talent: Martial Arts – Taekwondo (4 Seasons and Palm Board Breaking, by America's Best Karate (adapted form))
Michelle Chang
North Fullerton
City: Fullerton
College Preference: Harvard University
Career Goals: Bio-Engineering
Talent: Contemporary Folk Dance Fusion (Don't Be Afraid, by Jike Junyi)
Tristin Trombley
North Los Angeles County
City: Chatsworth
College Preference: UCSB, UCLA
Career Goals: Teacher, Instructional Designer
Talent: R&B Singing (Best Part , by Daniel Caesar)
Reagan Oliveira
Oakdale
City: Oakdale
College Preference: CSU Stanislaus
Career Goals: Become an English teacher and teach English abroad
Talent: Singing/Playing the Guitar (To Become Someone (original), by Reagan Oliveira)
Jana Woo
Saratoga
City: Saratoga
College Preference:
Career Goals: Major in Computer Science
Talent: Diving
Anna Livingstone
Scripps Ranch
City: San Diego
College Preference: American University
Career Goals: Congressional Representative
Talent: Clarinet (Concerto No. 3 for Clarinet, by Carl Stamitz)
Nicole Morris
Shafter
City: Shafter
College Preference: Abilene Christian University
Career Goals: theater, psychology, or interior design
Talent: Monologue (The Mask of Night , by Shakespeare )
Kaiann Yang
South Cypress
City: Cypress
College Preference: UCI
Career Goals: Criminology, federal law enforcement
Talent: Cultural Dance (Dunhuang Flying Asparas, by Ling Jin)
Advika Bhike
South Fremont
City: Fremont
College Preference: University of California Berkeley
Career Goals: Professor
Talent: Vocal (Set Fire to the Rain (song), by Adele)
Eunice Yi
South Fullerton
City: Fullerton
College Preference: Undecided
Career Goals: Psychiatrist
Talent: Music--Piano (Revolutionary Étude Op. 10, No. 12, by Frédéric Chopin)
Simone Yu
South Los Angeles County
City: Hacienda Heights
College Preference: UC Berkeley/UCLA/Stanford
Career Goals: CEO/International Entrepreneur
Talent: Piano (Jardins Sous La Pluie, by Claude Debussy)
Aspen Wooley
Turlock
City: Turlock
College Preference: BYU-Hawaii
Career Goals: Graphic Designer
Talent: Music (Cello Selection) (Medley of the Masters, by Ludwig van Beethoven, Johannes Brahms & Giuseppi Verdi/arr. Robert McCashin)
Julia Abbott
West Los Angeles County
City: Los Angeles
College Preference: Harvard University
Career Goals: Journalist at The New York Times
Talent: Dance (Dynasty, by Miia)
