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September 5, 2003/Elul 8 5763, Vol. 55, No. 54
Achieving recognition
BETH OLSON
Staff Writer
Alyssa Goya is the 2003 Pre-Teen Arizona Junior Division state titleholder. She will compete for $25,000 in educational bonds, prizes and awards in Baton Rouge, La., next summer.
Photo courtesy of Esther Goya
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At 9 years old, Alyssa Goya is poised to represent the state of Arizona.
Last month, Goya was awarded the 2003 Pre-Teen Arizona Scholarship and Recognition Program Junior Division title at the annual state competition. Next summer she will go on to compete at the national competition in Baton Rouge, La.
Goya, a fourth-grader at Boulder Creek Elementary, took first place in the On-Stage Expressiveness category and was third runner up in the talent competition, in which she did a dance and tumbling routine.
Goya's mother, Esther, points out that the contest is not a "beauty" pageant, but a scholarship program that evaluates participants according to seven criteria: academic achievement, volunteer service to church and community, school honors and activities, development of personal skills and abilities, general knowledgeability, communicative ability and on-stage expressiveness and overall pre-teen image.
Goya is active in a variety of academic and athletic activities, as well as community service.
"I like to read and I like to dance and I like to tumble and I like to swim," Goya says with a giggle.
Esther Goya says her daughter is active in Temple Beth Israel's junior choir and the Youth Social Action Committee. She plays piano and is a member of the K & K Elite Competitive Cheer and Pom Teams. She swam competitively for four years and was the first six-year-old girl to compete in and finish the Coronado Rough Water Swim.
"We know she's a pretty amazing girl ... (but) it's an honor, certainly, to be chosen as state representative," says Esther Goya.
Alyssa will represent Arizona at the scholarship program's event in California and Texas this fall. She's also been invited to visit the state capital.
The Goyas live in northeast Phoenix, along with father, Fred, and sister, Raquel.
For more information about the Pre-Teen America Scholarship and Recognition Program, call (225) 752-6015, visit www.preteenamerica.com or e-mail info@preteenamerica.com.
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