SUNNY SKIES AHEAD 11 questions with educator & Miss Oklahoma Sunny Day
BY ERIN PAGE . PHOTOS PROVIDED.
Miss Oklahoma Sunny Day will compete for the title of Miss America in January. But her ultimate goal is to become Oklahoma’s state superintendent of education. “I wanted to be Miss Oklahoma to advocate for educators and students,” said Day. The only Miss Oklahoma in history to continue her career during her reign, Day has taught in Western Heights Public Schools for the past six years. Day’s own traumatic childhood was marked by poverty and substance abuse; she uses those experiences to encourage and support students with similar upbringings, as well as to advocate for all Oklahoma students to have access to trauma-
DAY IS THE FIRST MISS OKLAHOMA IN HISTORY TO CONTINUE HER CAREER AS A TEACHER DURING HER REIGN.
informed and social-emotional learning opportunities. Day has
created a free character development program and social-emotional workbook for students, in addition to educator lesson plans, all of which she hopes become more commonplace in public education. We caught up with Day to get her perspective on the state of education in Oklahoma.
1. What’s been the most memorable part of serving as Miss Oklahoma? In one month, I visited 32 schools and 10,000 students, from kindergarten to 12th grade. At those assemblies, it’s amazing to see the power of storytelling. My story is deep and hard to talk about … but when I’ve opened up and been vulnerable, it creates a safe place for kids to talk about their own struggles. I’ve had kindergarteners telling me about substance abuse in their families. It’s been healing for me as a person who comes from trauma. I want to let students know they aren’t alone.
40 METROFAMILYMAGAZINE.COM / JAN-FEB 2024
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