Free Republic

PURCELLVILLE, Va. — It’s a startling contrast to some observers — the glamorous, bikini-clad Miss America from 2011, Teresa Scanlan, finding her home at the tiny, super-conservative Patrick Henry College. The school requires students to dress modestly and “seek parental counsel when pursuing a romantic relationship.” But the match has been a good one. Scanlan returned to campus in late August to begin her sophomore year. Among the things she loves about her classmates and her campus: “I’ve never had to sign an autograph, and I’ve never had to take a picture. Here, I can be just another student,” she...

Miss Nebraska Teresa Scanlan has at age 17 become the youngest Miss America to win the pageant since its debut 90 years ago. Becoming the first Cornhusker State resident to win the crown, Scanlan beat out 52 other beauty queens to win a $50,000 scholarship at the Planet Hollywood casino-resort in Las Vegas on Saturday night. ...The blond teen told the Associated Press she plans to register to vote when she turns 18 next month and will defer her enrollment at Virginia's Patrick Henry College to complete her reign. She then plans to go to law school and eventually become...

Teresa is the daughter of Mark and Janie Scanlan and is from Gering, Nebraska. She was born in Colton, California, and then grew up in Gering. As the middle child of seven, Teresa was homeschooled through her junior year of high school, when she attended Gering High School part-time, and then attended Scottsbluff High School full-time for her senior year, graduating from SHS in May of 2010. After being crowned Miss Nebraska 2010 in June and becoming the youngest woman to wear the Miss Nebraska crown, she deferred enrollment to Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia, where she is now...