Strathmore teen heading to national stage

By Miriam Ostermann, Associate Editor

Chanelle Cooke is an overachiever. That’s evident from a very long list of extracurricular activities of sports, clubs and hobbies that make up much of the 14-year-old’s day. Beyond that, the Strathmore born-and-raised teenager manages to achieve honours at Trinity Christian Academy, acquire top marks in math competitions, and was a recipient of this year’s Citizenship Award. But while being captain of the volleyball team, practicing mixed martial arts, and raising money for charities through the school’s leadership program isn’t enough, the Grade 9 student was also crowned Miss Teenage Wheatland County earlier this year and is now actively raising money to represent the area on the national stage; Miss Teenage Canada.
“I like to keep myself busy to give me something to do and being active is a very important part,” Cooke said. “This is a lot of work. I was pleasantly surprised by how much work pageant people have to put into this. I was a little shocked and overwhelmed at first, but then I thought, it’s fine, I have honours, if I can survive school I can survive this.”
Cooke’s future ambitions include acting and modelling which prompted the youngster to take an interest in the Miss Teenage Alberta two years ago. Unfortunately, Cooke didn’t qualify at the age of 12 to participate and missed the deadline the following year. While she started setting her sights on other interests this year, her mother received a phone call from the organization motivating Cooke to send in her application.
Even though her efforts during the interview portion and competing at the two-day provincial competition didn’t earn her the title of Miss Teenage Alberta, her score was high enough to award her the title of Miss Wheatland County and qualify for nationals in Toronto with a dozen other young Alberta women.
In addition to requirements of attending local events, becoming active on social media, writing blogs, and finding sponsors, the oldest of five kids is now staring at a $2,800 entry fee.
Cooke is therefore hoping to raise money through a bottle drive and gain sponsors by promoting their products and services, making appearances at events, and having the business or name displayed on her banner during the Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Days.
With her passion for education, Cooke’s platform consists of raising money for the WE charities – an international charity and educational partner – to provide children with education. She plans on selling bracelets made by women in Kenya where half of the proceeds make their way back to their families.
So far, Cooke has made appearances at local farmer’s markets, Canada Day, the Newsy Neighbour Festival, and will be available at the Strathmore Stampede and Heritage Day this weekend.
“I really enjoyed this whole experience, it made me get involved in my community, and I’ve met so many people and I’ve become a better public speaker,” she said. “It’s nice to see people in my community and try to raise money for things I’m passionate about.”
Although Cooke said she’s interested in competing in more pageants, her focus now is to raise enough money to cover the entrance fee to Miss Teenage Canada and fulfill her duties as Miss Teenage Wheatland County until she passes the crown in March 2019. Cooke heads to Toronto from Aug. 14-20. To donate or for more information contact Chanelle Cooke at missteenagewheatlandcounty2018@gmail.com or find her on Facebook at Miss Teenage Wheatland County 2018. The newly crowned Miss Teenage Canada will have a chance to compete for the Miss Teenage World title in Mexico.