2025 Distinguished 

Young Women

By: Aubree Palmer & Karlee Palmer

 Unstoppable once again, the young women of Malad gathered to display their hard-earned talents and achievements on Saturday, May 4th for the 2025 DYW Program. Distinguished Young Women has been an honored scholarship program throughout the Malad community, and will continue to be based on the amazing group of girls that continue to display their lively personalities on stage. While the rest of Malad enjoyed the audience's perspective of the performance, contestants could give Dragon Doings an insider perspective. 

2025 DYW 2nd Alternate Aubree Palmer remarked, “Being backstage with the girls was so fun! Different than play performances, we were able to still interact with each other while maybe even boosting one another up! Oh! And we had the most amazing food provided by each hostess. While I feel like the audience saw each girl in their most vulnerable state, one perspective they didn’t get to see was each girl enjoying her final moments together. While Alexus’s farewell video was playing, the two groups were on either side of the stage, sitting on the floor in the wings, in a circle holding pinkies. I love these girls and can not wait to spend the rest of senior year with them!”

A notable part of Saturday’s performance was the traditional Forget-Me-Not Skit performed by last year's 2024 participants, Brynlee Bastian, Brooklyn Daniels, Rylee Hammer, Sadie Jensen, Karlee Palmer, and Alexus Tarbet. These girls worked hard to give a humorous goodbye to the Malad DYW program. Their skit went through each of the HAIRS attributes: healthy, ambitious, involved, responsible, and studious, in a mock “DYW Program”. The girls practiced a fitness routine, performed a TikTok, practiced self-expression, rehearsed talents, and settled down for bed all while being cautious not to disturb the Malad Elementary Ghost. Karlee Palmer, 2024 Spirt Award Winner, said with a smile, “Our whole goal with the skit was to make the audience laugh. And I feel like we accomplished that. Hearing the audience's laughter kept us going and took away all the nervousness. Even though our questions and answers were not traditional Self-Expression answers, we still had fun practicing and looking forward to the audience laugh on performance night. It was a great goodbye to the program that has greatly impacted us and taught us skills we will never forget.” 

One last final congratulations to the 2025 Malad Distinguished Young Women; Madelyn Shaw, 1st Alternate; Katie Coatney, 2nd Alternate; Aubree Palmer, 3rd Alternate; Makiya Shulz, and Spirit of DYW; Aubrey Corbett and Katie Coatney. We applaud your efforts and fully recognize the hard work put in! We look forward to seeing Madelyn represent Malad at State this fall!

Lady Dragons Maintain Undefeated Streak

By: Kaitlyn Pickett

Malad Lady Dragons Softball team continued their winning streak last week as they faced four teams. Monday they faced the West Side Pirates and varsity won 18-1 and JV 18-3. Hallie Horsley and Brylee Oglesbee both hit home runs during the game. Tuesday was a nail biter against Sky View. It was tied 3-3 at the bottom of the seventh with Malad up to bat. Riglee Peterson, the pitcher, battled at the plate and hit a walk-off homerun to win the game with a 4-3 score while the JV had to cut their game short due to light, and loss with a score of 6-9. The Dragons then travelled on Thursday to Soda Springs and played the Cardinals. During the game, Adley Kimberling hit a grand slam and the Lady Dragons mercy ruled the Lady Cardinals with a score of 17-0 with the JV having a similar outcome with a score of 17-1. Friday was the last regular season home game, so the seniors and coaches were honored before the game against the West Side Pirates. The seniors this year were Adley Kimberling, Hallie Horsley, and Kaitlyn Pickett. They have been on the team all four years of their high school career. “It’s super sad knowing that this is my last year on this team. It was really fun playing with these girls, and I will miss them, but I am ready to begin a new chapter in my life.” Kaitlyn Pickett said. The Lady Dragons mercy-ruled the Lady Pirates with a score of 16-0. JV followed in their footsteps, ending their season with a win of 16-0 and Kylee Tanner hitting her first ever home run! Both teams have had a successful season, with the Varsity looking forward to District and soon after State. Come support them in their game tonight at 4:00. Good Luck to the Lady Dragons!