Ballet dancer wins Distinguished Young Woman of Jefferson County title

Julianne Abenoja, a rising senior at Mountain Brook High School, has been a dancer with Birmingham Dance Theatre since kindergarten.

For years, her ballet teacher, Angela Walker, encouraged Abenoja to enter the Distinguished Young Women of Jefferson County program, which offers cash scholarships and fosters talent and leadership in high-school junior girls.

She finally took Walker’s advice, and on July 17 she participated in the competition at John Carroll Catholic High School with 15 other women.

Abenoja won $4,400 in scholarships, was the overall winner in the fitness and scholastic categories and took the grand title of Distinguished Young Woman of Jefferson County.

“It was so surreal to win,” Abenoja said. “It was so honoring and humbling. That night was such a whirlwind, I slept so good that night.”

For her talent entry at the competition, Abenoja chose a ballet en solo pointe.

“Ballet is something that I’ve always wanted to have a solo in and try as a soloist, but it’s also outside of my comfort zone being up on stage alone, doing a ballet on pointe.” she said. “I was really excited to just get out of my comfort zone and try something new.”

Abenoja is currently taking a break before preparing for the state competition in Montgomery Jan. 21-22, 2022, where $42,500 in scholarships will be awarded, according to the DYW website.

“I’m very excited to be able to represent all of the girls that I met from Jefferson County at state,” Abenoja said.

In the future, she is interested in medicine and may want to pursue a neurology and neuroscience program in college.