University women are acquiring quite a reputation. First Playboy models and an Apprentice contestant graced the University before entering the national spotlight -- now a former Cavalier has been crowned Miss America.
Wahoo-wa
This year's Miss America, Deidre Downs, attended the University from 1998 until 2000 when she transferred to Samford University in Birmingham, Ala.
"I loved U.Va., but I just wanted to go to a smaller school," Downs said. "So I ended up going to a school in my hometown in Alabama."
Second-year College student Ashby Leavell said that she was surprised to hear about Miss America having attended the University."I can't remember when, but I heard a couple of my friends talking about how Miss America had gone to U.Va.," Leavell said. "I was really surprised to hear that, but the thing is you never know that you might be going to school with people who accomplish things like that."
An Echols scholar, Downs was pursuing an interdisciplinary major at the University while taking pre-medicine classes and focusing on history.
"Even though I knew I was going to go to med school after college, I took many history classes while I was there," Downs said. "I eventually ended up getting my degree in history [at Samford]."
While at the University, Downs participated in many activities and clubs that ranged from athletics to politics.
"I played varsity volleyball, I was in the Jefferson Society, A Chi O sorority, U.Dems and I was also an honor advisor."
Students familiar with Downs's activities expressed a sense of disappointment that she transferred before graduating.
"It really is amazing that she could fit all of that in her schedule," Leavell said. "It's a shame that she was involved in so many things at this school and then she transferred."
Although Downs said she is happy with her decision to transfer, there is one thing that she would have loved to experience at the University.
"I would have loved to live on the Lawn," she said. "When I was a second year, I had a friend who lived on the Lawn, and it just seemed such a great experience."
And the competition begins
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