Dixie State College Mother/Daughter Women's Conference

Dixie State College of Utah will host its annual Mother-Daughter Weekend and Women’s Conference on Saturday, Feb. 23.  The conference event is open to all DSC female students and their mothers, and women throughout the community to attend.

The theme of this year’s conference, which is hosted by reigning Miss Dixie Krissia Beatty, is “Be-YOU-tiful,” which focuses on encouraging women to remain beautiful and strong in today’s changing world. Beatty, a business and marketing major from St. George, won a full tuition scholarship at the Miss Dixie Homecoming Queen pageant last fall and will represent Dixie State and compete at the 2013 Miss Utah Pageant next June for a chance to advance to the 2014 Miss America Pageant.

“Women face many obstacles in the world today, especially in the face of adversity, challenges and change,” Ms. Beatty said. “The workshop presentations and keynote addresses will provide women with the tools they will need in their everyday lives to balance work and family while maintaining a healthy and active lifestyle.”

The conference’s keynote address will be delivered by Elizabeth Smart, who’s abduction more than 10 years ago was one of the most followed child abduction cases of our time. Fortunately, the police safely returned her back to her family on March 12, 2003 after being held prisoner for nine months. Smart has become an advocate for change related to child abduction, recovery programs and national legislation. She triumphantly testified before her captor and the world about the very private nightmare she suffered during her abduction, which lead to conviction.
 
Smart is currently involved in the “Elizabeth Smart Foundation,” and she has helped promote The National AMBER Alert, The Adam Walsh Child Protection & Safety Act and other safety legislation to help prevent abductions.  Two years ago Smart worked with the Department of Justice and four other recovered young adults in creating a survivors guide, entitled – “You’re Not Alone: The Journey From Abduction to Empowerment.” to encourage children who have gone through similar experiences to not give up and know that there is life after tragic events. Her abduction and recovery motivated parents, law enforcement, and leaders world-wide to focus on children’s safety, the vigilance of every day people in finding missing children, and the belief that there is always hope, we can never stop searching for each and every missing child.

The conference will get underway with an opening keynote presentation by DSC faculty member Merrilee Webb, who directs Dixie State’s “Raging Red” show choir, a goodwill and showcase performance group of students that performs and teaches in local schools throughout the state and region, and at a number of community and campus events. Four breakout sessions will follow beginning 10 a.m., featuring a wide range of presenters, including Elizabeth Muto Hunterton of the Epicurean Charitable Foundation (ECF); Darci Hansen, founder and editor-in-chief of Elan Woman Magazine; retired educator Debbie Zockoll; and Elisabeth Bingham, co-founder of Humanitarian Experience for Youth (HEFY), a non-profit international humanitarian aid organization of volunteers who serve in Central America, Fiji, Tonga and the Dominican Republic. For a complete list of events and speaker bios, please visit www.motherdaughterdixie.com.

In addition, Dillard’s will be sponsoring a fashion show and entertainment during the conference luncheon.