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Ashley Cochran click image to enlarge

By Rama Peroo
Cowley College

Having lost two friends during her time at Cowley College, Ashley Cochran has endured some tough times to get to where she is today. She is one of the five finalists for Queen Alalah LXXVI.

Crowning will take place at 8 p.m. Oct. 26, in the Robert Brown Theatre on Cowley's Arkansas City campus.

Cochran is a pre-dentistry major with a 4.0 grade-point average at Cowley.

Along with being a member of the Tigerette Danceline, she is also involved in Campus Christian Fellowship and serves as a tutor at the college.

She was a close friend of former Cowley student Jodi Sanderholm, who died in January. Having served as a lab partner with Sanderholm while at Arkansas City High School, and as a member of the danceline at Cowley College, Cochran was recently named the first recipient of the Shanks Family/Jodi Sanderholm Scholarship.

Cochran credits her faith in God with helping her through some difficult times.

"I have grown a lot because of that," Cochran said.

The scholarship Cochran was awarded totaled $1,200 for the 2007-08 school year.

The scholarship committee at Cowley College made the final selection of Cochran as the recipient of the award.

Cochran is the daughter of Stan and Melissa Cochran. She has one brother, Derek, 24. Grandparents are, Ronnie and Patsy Sweely, of Ark City, and Bobbie and the late Mickey Cochran, of Dallas, Texas.

She began dancing at the age of three and has participated in many of the Queen coronations as a member of Ark City Dance.

"I love performing in front of people," Cochran said. "It will be a lot of fun."

Away from Cowley, she has worked as a teller at Union State Bank for the past year and a half. In her free time, she enjoys playing golf, dancing and watching "Grey's Anatomy."

After Cowley, Cochran hopes to attend Wichita State University and one day become a dental hygienist.

"I like the dentist a lot and thought it would be neat to go into the dental-hygiene field," Cochran said.

However, right now she is focusing on enjoying her sophomore year at Cowley.

"It has been a lot of fun," Cochran said. "There have been some crazy times, but I'm really glad I came to Cowley."