Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011, finds her place at the conservative Patrick Henry College, according to the Huffington Post.
The said school requires students to dress modestly and seek parental counsel when pursuing a romantic relationship. This seemed like a startling contrast to some observers after Scanlan was crowned as Miss America in 2011.
Scanlan returned to campus in late August to begin her sophomore year. She spoke about the things that she loves about her classmates and her campus saying, "I've never had to sign an autograph, and I've never had to take a picture. Here, I can just be another student."
However, blending in the school did not always come easy for Scanlan, who won the Miss America Contest at 17, representing Nebraska. The youngest Miss America in more than 70 years, she spent a year fulfilling her duties and enrolled at Patrick Henry in 2012. She said that the school's workload and demands perfectly matched her busy schedule.
The school was established in 2000 with the goal of giving home-schooled Christian conservatives a foundation to help them effect change in government, the law and journalism.The school started with 90 students and a single major - government. It is still a tiny campus in the outer suburbs of Washington, D.C., but now has 320 students and five majors, including journalism, literature and history. The SAT scores of its students are comparable to top-tier state universities.
Scanlan, who came from a homeschooling family, says she wanted to go to Patrick Henry ever since she was 8.She said she's frustrated by stereotypes that some hold about Patrick Henry students. She recalled a recent photo essay published about the school that she felt went out of its way to depict students as cloistered weirdos. The reality, she said, is that while the students are Christian, they come from a variety of backgrounds.
