Family and friends know lifelong Crystal Lake resident Sara Flanigan as the first person out on the dance floor at a wedding reception.

Wauconda High School students and staff have dubbed the math teacher Julie McCoy — the uber-perky cruise director from the popular TV show “The Love Boat.”

Her passion for math, combined her with love of dancing and belief that anything can be accomplished with hard work, recently equated to the experience of a lifetime for the 35-year-old mother of two — the opportunity to train for a week at the “Dancing With the Stars” studios in Los Angeles after being named runner-up in the Dove Close-Up Challenge.

“It was a dream come true,” Flanigan said. “Nothing like this would have ever happened to me if I wouldn’t have tried. You can accomplish anything if you just put your mind to it.”

During a math class earlier this year, Flanigan spoke to her students about the power of social media.

“Anyone could become famous if enough people got involved,” she said.

“I told them that if they could start a Facebook page about me, put some videos up on YouTube and get enough people involved, that I could be on ‘Dancing With the Stars,’” Flanigan said.

That same week, Flanigan saw a Dove commercial on TV looking for video submissions to the challenge, with the eventual winner earning the trip to train in Los Angeles and be a part of a new commercial that would air during a break of the season finale, and the runner-up tagging along.

“I saw the commercial and started laughing,” she said. “I took the idea to my students, and we decided that I would do it.”

Flanigan later submitted a video incorporating math equations, her love for Dove skin products, and her obsession with Jennie Garth, confidence coach on the show and former star of “90210.”

“My final problem that I did was finding the square root of this number, and it equaled 90210,” she said. “I loved the show, and it was a perfect reference for me wanting to meet her. I had to do some math magic to make that one work.”

After being named runner-up, Flanigan and the winner were flown to Los Angeles in April for an authentic “Dancing With the Stars” experience. She took an unpaid leave of absence from Wauconda High School.

They first attended a live broadcast of the April 6 results show before training began the next day. The show pairs celebrities with professional dancers, with a panel of judges. The public votes on the eventual winner.

Flanigan, an avid watcher of the show, was partnered up with Season 10 professional dancer Damian Whitewood. She trained two to three hours hours a day, learning the cha-cha.

Before that, she often practiced dancing in her kitchen with her sons, Kendrick and Charlie. Flanigan didn’t know what to expect of professionals.

“When they told us what dance we were going to learn I was like, ‘OK, I can do that,’” she said. “But that dance in the professional world is very different that the one I learned in gym class.”

Whitewood made the training much easier and more enjoyable.

“Damian never spoke to me like I was anything but a professional,” Flanigan said. “He was very positive and encouraging, and taught things in a way very easy to learn. By the end of the week, we have it down.”

She also received confidence coaching from her longtime idol, Garth, along with the opportunity to take part in wardrobe fittings and photo shoots, which provided keepsakes she’ll always cherish.

The former Crystal Lake Central pom squad member hopes that her story can become an inspiration to her students, which she plans to incorporate in a self-esteem program she is proposing at the high school.

Besides receiving the occasional text message from Whitewood, Flanigan’s life is back to normal.

“I had the chance of a lifetime to live like a superstar in Hollywood for a week,” she said. “I have made lifelong friends from this experience. I would do it again in a heartbeat.”

www.twitter.com/lsynett