After six weeks of studying 12 to 14 hours a day, Shannon Doyle is confident that she has passed step one of the United States Medical Licensing Exam.
But, she won't return to Philadelphia's Jefferson Medical College for her third year of medical school in the fall.
Instead, she'll take a break and head to Las Vegas in January, in hopes of being crowned Miss America. On Saturday, the Wilkes-Barre native won the Miss Pennsylvania title at a ceremony in Pittsburgh.
Doyle, 24, has competed for the title of Miss Pennsylvania for the past five years.
"The last two years, I was first runner-up," Doyle recalled. "For some reason, this year I was a lot calmer than I was in previous years, I think because this was my last year eligible to compete."
As Miss Pennsylvania, Doyle will receive scholarship money, and her duties will include traveling around the state to promote the Miss Pennsylvania organization and her platform, "Home Away from Home: Enriching the Lives of Hospitalized Children."
Doyle has earned $23,500 in scholarships through pageant competition, including $8,500 as Miss Pennsylvania. If she becomes Miss America, she could earn upward of $50,000 to put toward her education.
Work for her platform, including her "Wear a Smile" bracelet-sale program, began when she was an undergraduate biology major at Villanova and a volunteer at the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia. As Miss Pennsylvania, she hopes to expand her fundraising efforts for children in hospitals statewide.
Her brother Philadelphia Assistant District Attorney Patrick Doyle said, "I couldn't be more proud of her. It shows that having both brains and beauty pays off."
Doyle's mother, Maureen, said she hopes to see her daughter crowned Miss America because of her work ethic and care for terminally ill children.
"I know I wouldn't be able to do it," she said of her daughter, who, during study breaks, prepared her tap routine and worked out to get ready for the pageant.
Shannon said that the hiatus from school and the transition to beauty queen couldn't come at a better time - during her next year of medical school, she will begin clinical rounds. "It's definitely making a 180 completely," she said.
"But . . . becoming a doctor and potentially Miss America are two things I've always aspired to, and I think that I'll definitely be able to handle both of them." *
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