College of Saint Mary alum Stephanie Collings appears on Wheel of Fortune
OMAHA, Neb. – Growing up hearing stories about her mom’s 1994 appearance on Wheel of Fortune and watching the show with her family ignited a dream in Stephanie Collings ‘20 that she never expected to come true.
But early on a Friday morning in August, Collings arrived at Sony Pictures Studios in Culver City, Calif. to film an episode of the classic game show.
Collings, a College of Saint Mary (CSM) Bachelor of Science in Nursing graduate, applied to be a contestant on Wheel of Fortune on a whim early in the year.
“I grew up watching the show with my mom and I still watch the show now. It’s my me time,” said Collings, who is a nurse at an outpatient endoscopy clinic.
Finding College of Saint Mary
Her journey to becoming a nurse began when Collings started taking healthcare courses at a community college. But she put her education on hold when she joined the U.S. Air Force, where she served for five years. Living in the Omaha area after being stationed at Offutt Air Force Base in Bellevue, Neb., Collings decided to return to college.
“I still had that call to go into a profession where I could help people and do something bigger than myself. I had no idea where to go to school, but I was immediately drawn to CSM, especially as an older student. Coming from a Catholic family, I felt strong about the values at the College,” she said. “Also, coming from a male-dominated filed in the military, it felt refreshing to be at a women’s college. I loved every minute of it. It truly felt like I was in the right place at the right time.”
Winning on Wheel of Fortune
A few months after applying to Wheel of Fortune, she went through a series of Zoom interviews along with other potential contestants. “I didn’t get any indication of whether I did well,” she said.
Over the summer, Collings and her family moved from Illinois to Odenton, Md. near Fort Meade, where her husband is stationed. A week after the move, she received a phone call. With the busyness of moving, she had missed an email from the Wheel of Fortune team. They wanted her to be in California in four weeks.
Her husband, brother and two sisters joined her in California and were in the studio audience to watch Collings.
“It was the most fun I’ve ever had in a day. It was a whirlwind experience," she said.
Collings appeared on Wheel of Fortune on November 10 during the show’s Celebrating Veterans Week. “It felt like a homecoming and a reunion. It was so much fun,” she said. “It was a dream come true to be on this show that I’ve watched forever and applied to be on as a silly thing.”
She solved the prize puzzle, Ravioli in Cream Sauce, winning a trip to Italy. She and her husband left for the trip on November 22.
“I have chills thinking about it. We’ve done deployments, but we don’t often get time for the two of us. We get to go on this adventure before we become a family of six,” Collings said before they departed to Italy.
Collings and her husband, Sam, are parents to Norah, 6, Natalie, 3, and Maren, 1. Collings is pregnant with their fourth child.
*Photo courtesy of Wheel of Fortune Tonight
