Plenty of folks argue about whether or not Sapulpa, in it’s 20,000 residents could actually be considered a “small town,” but Sarah Darrol-Lane has big dreams for a girl in town of any size. The 15-year-old Bartlett Academy student holds a 3.5 GPA and wants to be a surgeon. So she’s taking the next logical step to achieving that dream: she’s competing to be Miss Teen Oklahoma.
It could be said that her desire (and probably her tenacity) for med school comes from her own experiences, short as her life has been thus far. When she was younger, her mother was struck with cancer and battled it for several years. Her father could not afford to miss work, so this left Sarah to be the one to help raise her younger brother, who has sensory issues and is autistic. Even while dealing with the sickness in her family and the struggle of running the house, she maintained a high GPA and still found time to volunteer with animal rescues and adoption events for The Forget Me Not Rescue Foundation. One of Sarah’s rescues is a Sox, a blind gray kitten she nursed back to health recently.
When she’s not saving animals or hustling at school (technically a sophomore, she will be graduating high school in August of 2016), Sarah loves reading and working with wood and with her hands, doing crafts, painting or refurbishing furniture. And if her life wasn’t full enough, she’s now striving for Miss Teen Oklahoma.
Miss Teen Oklahoma is a pageant whose mission is “to provide an opportunity for Oklahoma’s young teenage ladies to compete in a first-class teen scholarship pageant and to encourage them to continue pursuing their talents, become positive influences in their communities and develop into mature, responsible young women of the highest morals and integrity.” The pageant runs the weekend of December 18th through December 20th. Every teenage girl that walks the stage will be receiving scholarship of $36,400.00—and of course, it gets higher if you place in fifth or above, and higher still if you win.
Though the pageant is based on a variety of items, including a private interview, on-stage questioning combined with evening wear, talent, active wear, and scholastic achievement, Sarah maintains that her goal is not to prove how “pretty” she might be, but to improve her academic future. In order for her to make it to Norman, where the pageant is being held, she has to raise a total of $2,000 by November 27th through sponsorships and donations. Her parents started a GoFundMe campaign to aid in her financial assistance. You can find out more and donate at https://www.gofundme.com/sarahformissteenok
Anyone who would like to meet Sarah or learn more about her, or donate directly, can contact Shawna Lane at slane2008@live.com or 918-886-5651
