MICHAEL KIRAL

LAPLACE – A LaPlace resident is on the fast track to Walt Disney World. Sarah McCollum, 12, is one of 132 youngsters from the around the country selected to participate in the fifth annual Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs National Championships to be held in Orlando, Fla., from Jan. 17-21. McCollum got the chance after placing first at the Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs race held in LaPlace last Sunday. After answering questions about why she wanted to be drug free, McCollum negotiated the course filled with padded obstacles without hitting one. First place winners from each race were entered in a drawing and out of an approximately 3,000 eligible participants, 132 children and two members of each child’s family won all-expenses-paid trips to the national championships. Sarah’s mother, Susan, couldn’t believe the news when she first heard that Sarah had won. Susan received a call saying that a certified package would be coming in the mail with the details of the trip. Her first reaction was one of “yeah, right,” but coming home later that week, she noticed a mail truck in front of her house and a big smile on Sarah’s face. “We got it, read it and made a call, asking if it was for real,” Susan McCollum said. “They verified it. Since then, we’ve been kind of floating. We’ve been wanting to make another trip to Disney World.” In Orlando, all children and their families will stay at Walt Disney World’s Coronado Springs Resort and will be awarded passes to tour the theme parks. The National Championship finals will be held at the resort. The competition will be held that Friday when participants get behind the wheel of Kmart Kids Race Against Drugs exclusive miniature race cars, driving them over bridges, around turns and through tunnels while being clocked by an electronic timing system. Each boy and girl races individually, competing for the fastest time in their age group (7-8, 9-10 and 11-12). An awards banquet will be held the following evening. The first-place boy and girl racer in each age division will receive a $10,000 college scholarship. A total of six $10,000 scholarships will be awarded. “I am surprised and excited,” Sarah McCollum, a straight A student and cheerleader at Garyville/Mt. Airy Math and Science Magnet School, said of winning the trip. “I just want that day to come. I just have to wait another week. “All the rides there,” McCollum added on what she is looking forward to. “I want to get souvenirs for my friends at school, too. And I want to ride the plane. I like riding planes.” Susan McCollum said she was excited for her daughter and that the whole family is planning on making the trip. “She’s been a pretty lucky little girl,” Susan McCollum said. “She’s won a couple of other things as well. She has this attraction for winning. Once we get our tickets and get on the plane, it will really sink in. It’s very exciting for her.”