Madison Bartlett had no experience in pageants until one of her former students talked to her about them last year. Now she has competed in the Miss Texas USA Pageant.

Bartlett, a first-year Algebra I teacher at Lufkin High School and a former LHS student and athlete, said she had no expectations about representing Lufkin in the Miss Texas USA Pageant in Houston earlier this month.

After a while of contemplation, Bartlett said, she decided to become part of the pageant.

“I took it as a growing experience, really and truly,” she said.

Bartlett said her younger sister, Alli, is her inspiration.

“A lot of what I do is to show her that it can be done,” she said. “Always having her eyes on me has inspired me to do better.”

In her first year at LHS, Bartlett gets to work alongside her mother, Hollie Bartlett, who handles the school’s Activity Funds.

Hollie Bartlett said she never expected her daughter to actually compete in the pageant, but that she was proud of her achievement.

“She came out of her shell,” Hollie Bartlett said. “She’s more of a sports girl. She played soccer all through school — never did a pageant, never did dance.”

Madison Bartlett, a Texas A&M graduate, said she surprised herself by entering the pageant.

“I’m the person that likes to be in the crowd watching something, opposed to what the crowd is watching,” she said.