“Sarah, you ARE Miss Nebraska Teen USA until someone tells you otherwise.” As Sarah Hollins packed her things for her first ever pageant she received some last minute words of advice from a friend. As she drove through a snow storm with her mother from her home in Omaha to Norfolk she thought only of that statement and the nervous butterflies growing in her stomach. Those nervous butterflies fluttered back as the weekend came to an end and Sarah stood on stage hand in hand with another contestant as they named the runner-up and the new Miss Nebraska Teen USA. On January 11th, 2009, at the Johnny Carson Theatre, Sarah Hollins was crowned Miss Nebraska Teen USA.
Family is very important to Sarah and with three brothers she has quit a handful. Sarah believes that her biggest and greatest job is being a mentor to her younger brothers. Her parents are both physicians and have instilled a high value in education and hard work ethic.

She graduated from Burke High School where she was very involved. She balanced academics, cheerleading, and various clubs and leadership roles. Sarah is a freshman at Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska. Sarah maintains a 4.0 grade point average at the highly competitive school. She plans to major in Biology and apply to medical school. Her dream is to become a pediatrician like her mother.

Sarah was a competitive gymnast for six years. She believes this is where she learned to be motivated and dedicated. As her gymnastics career came to an end she knew she didn’t want to leave the sport forever, so when offered a job teaching Pre-school gymnastics classes she took the job eagerly. As a instructor she learned the passion she had for working with children. Her dream for becoming a pediatrician became ever more clear to her.

Sarah has been actively involved in the Omaha area. She participates in Creighton University’s Habitat for Humanity where she is not afraid to get a little bit dirty for a good cause. She has worked with many charitable organizations in the Metro area including; Womenaide, Junior League of Omaha, and Midlands Literacy Council but her main focus is on a non-profit organization called Reach out and Read. Reach out and Read promotes early childhood literacy by making books available to all children in all socioeconomic situations. Sarah volunteers her time at local physicians clinics reading to children in the waiting rooms. Sarah organized her own book drive and collected over three hundred books for the Reach Out and Read program that were distributed throughout the Omaha area. As Miss Nebraska Teen USA she plans to concentrate on promoting early childhood literacy and introducing people to the Reach out and Read program.

Sarah hopes to become the first ever Miss Nebraska Teen to take home the honorable title of Miss Teen USA.

Photo Credit: Fadil Berisha