by Hope Zachary

Contributing writer

An SE student Haley Brooke Ellison competed for the title and was crowned Miss Southeast Oklahoma a few short weeks ago on Nov. 20. In addition Brittany Trent, a student from Durant High School, won the Miss Southeast Oklahoma Outstanding Teen title.

Ellison has had a busy semester being involved in cross country, the Chrovettes and the Sparks dance team, and she was named Top 10 Freshman earlier this semester. Now she is preparing to compete in the Miss Oklahoma Pageant in Tulsa this coming June.

The Miss Southeast Oklahoma pageant was held at 2 p.m. on Sunday Nov. 20 in the Durant Middle School Auditorium. Between the two new titleholders over $30,000 was received in scholarships and awards.

Ellison is a sophomore health and physical education major originally from Broken Bow. After competing in six pageants since she was 8 years old, Ellison said, “I never gave up and it finally paid off.”

The road is just beginning for the 20-year-old crown holder who stated, “With God anything is possible and I am much honored to represent southeast Oklahoma and will she the best role model I can be… I’m so excited to see what this next year brings.”

Ellison sang “At Last” for her talent, and she won the talent section of the pageant as well. Her platform is domestic violence awareness.

She choose this platform feeling like she can relate to victims because of past experiences in her own life, she said.

Best wishes to Ellison and Trent with the Miss Oklahoma and Miss Oklahoma Outstanding Teen pageants coming next year.