Seeing her sisters as part of the Ripon Christian prom court was enough to pique Lauren Van Till’s interest.

What, she wondered, would it be like to be one of the handful of young women in the annual Almond Blossom Queen pageant?

She already knew the past two Miss Almond Blossom winners – Joie Darretta and Ashley Bloemhof – from school. She looked up to both of them for their poise and their confidence and the way that they made the one person they were talking to feel like they were the only person in the room.

So she filled out her application, submitted it to the Ripon Chamber of Commerce and is holding out hope that she can be the third straight Ripon Christian student to capture the title.

“I thought it would be a good way to get involved and it was always something that I wanted to do,” Van Till said. “I figured this would be a great way to participate more in the community and just have fun while doing something that I’ll get to remember for the rest of my life.”

And it’s hard not to consider Van Till as one of Ripon’s rising stars when you look at her goals, ambitions and extensive list of activities that run the gamut from sports to mock trial and debate to robotics.

The junior has plans to attend The University of California – majoring in pre-med before pursuing a line of study that will end with her as a pediatric endocrinologist.

She considers her ambitious, easy-going and kind and says that she’s looking forward to the carnival as much as anything else.

“We live in a place where there aren’t a lot of amusement parks and the carnival is a place where there’s always excitement,” she said. “I’ve always had fun there for as long as I can remember, and it’s something that I think I’ll always have fond memories of.”

Van Till is the daughter of John and Denise Van Till.

When she isn’t focusing on her schooling she likes to play piano, golf, sing and spend time with her friends and family. She also has interests in music, medicine and fitness.

“One of the things that they told us when we had our etiquette meeting was that no matter what this was going to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience – nobody can ever take this away from us,” she said. “That’s what I’m looking forward to most.”