Last year, the continued success of her reality-check course called Get Real! and the nationwide publication of the program’s workbook prompted Beth Decker’s students to ask the Liberty High School teacher if her next step might be an appearance on “The Oprah Winfrey Show.” Turns out, it might well be.

Decker, who teaches a course for freshman called Foundations for Success, has thrown her hat into the Oprah “Your OWN Show” ring – a competition dreamed up by Lady O to find the successor to her talk show crown.

“I submitted a video based on their (the Winfrey show’s) rules and we’ll see what happens,” said Decker. “I’m an Oprah fan and I thought it might be fun to see what happens. You never know.”

Decker’s Get Real! talk show idea springs from the classes she teaches at Liberty – classes designed to help students navigate not only through the high school years, but prepare, plan and progress toward their futures.

“The idea for the show is for teens and parents to come together and get information and learn and discuss all the important decisions that go into building a life for these kids, and that includes college, employment and taking a look at life as an adult,” said Decker. “And the other part is asking what kind of human being do they want to be, and learning how to build independence.

“If the idea for the (Oprah) TV show is to reach more kids, then I have something that kids need.”

Contestants submitted a short video describing their ideas for a talk show and sent them to Winfrey’s producers. Viewers can pick their favorite video by logging onto Oprah’s Web site and casting their vote. Sometime within the next few weeks, the top five videos will be selected and a finalist chosen.

And as for Decker’s chances?

“Not great,” she admits. “I figure my odds are about 1 in 6,000, but what I really wanted was for my kids to see that it’s good for people to take chances. I had a lot of fun doing it and I’m one of those people who believes you open one door and something else comes through. We’ll see happens.”

To view Decker’s video, log onto www.oprah.com.