UNL student crowned Miss Teen of America By jonn huiwiaer Staff Reporter Robin Briggs’ love of nature al ways has been strong. But the University of Ncbraska Lincoln sophomore never dreamed that love would help her win a na tional pageant and possibly deter mine her future career. Last month, Briggs became the first Nebraskan to win the title of Miss Teen of America. She captured the title on Aug. 7 at the 11th annual MissTecnof America pagcant,whcrc she competed with more than 80 other women. Briggs said her lifelong love of nature led her to choose an environ mental platform for the competition. She extensively researched the gold en lion tamur of the Brazilian rain forests for her presentation at the pageant. The pageant involved a week of preparation and daily competitions. While she was preparing for the pageant, she had a face-to-face con frontation with the natural world. “While 1 was on a tour at the zoo, 1 got a bee sting on my hand,” she said. “ My hand swelled up for the rest of the pageant, and 1 had the hugest, grossest hand you’ve ever seen. “I became known as Miss Teen of Bee Sting,” she said. When the pageant began, Briggs said, she faced larger challenges. That night, all 50 candidates pa raded on stage. Each of the top 15 women, who were chosen from com petitions during the week, answered an onstage question and gave a pre sentation about an achiever from her state. Briggs chose Father Flanagan, the founder of Boys Town. The field then was narrowed to eight young women, who competed in the formal-wear competition and gave a speech. After that, four com petitors remained for a talent presen tation and an isolation booth ques tion. The w inner and a runner-up were chosen lrom those lour. “When they announced my name, it was just an incredible feeling. You can never really prepare for it,” she said. “All the other girls were great, but I was told later that my sincerity put me over the top.” As M iss Teen of America, Briggs is required to travel frequently to make appearances. In January, she’ll take off for Australia. ‘T vc never been to Austral ia; I’ vc done a lot of travel ing to places 1 ike China, Hong Kong, England, Mex ico and Macao, but Australia has always been my dream destination.” Briggs will be in Australia for 10 days, traveling as an ambassador for the United States. She later will attend the Ameri can Academy of Achievement in Virginia, where she’ll meet more than 50 celebrities from different areas of life. Briggs said all the traveling and responsibilities of being Miss Teen of America put pressure on other aspects of her life. One of the biggest pressures will be making up for all the classes she will miss. “I’ve only had two weeks, so I haven’t missed any classes yet. Last year’s Miss Teen faxed her home work, worked on a laptop on the plane and 1 istened to lectures over the phone. I’ll have people take notes for me. My Delta Gamma Sorority sis ters will help out a lot.” Briggs said she already had trav eled extensively toattendother events, but she always was glad to get back to campus, where she could relax and be herself. And being hersclf.she said, means beingoutside, bicycling andexcrcis ing. Someday. Briggs said, she would l ike to take her love for nature beyond pageants into a career. “I would love to work for National Geographic Explorer. I would have the patience to sit in a jungle and aim a camera at a leopard for 20 minutes waiting for him to pounce." Watch the Tflffi Tedl Game at the SIDETRACK Sing along with FREW game. 935 ’O’ Street 435-9171 By Melanie Brandert_ Staff Reporter By-law changes to two ASUN com mittees were passed by the senate at a meeting Wednesday night. A by-law change to the Five-Year ProjectionCommittcc now requires sen ators of the Association of Students of the University ofNebraska to review the committee’s report every three years. The senate formerly reviewed the re port, which illustrates students’ ideas for the university’s future, on a yearly basis. Judy Rishcl, second vice-president and chairwoman of the committee, said during the meeting it was unnecessary to review the report every year. “Instead, the second vice-president will go back through (the report) every year and see if anything needs (to be) updated,” she said. If anything in the report needs up dating, Rishcl said she would form a committee to rewrite the report in 1997. A second by-law change approved by the senate Wednesday night elimi nated the non-voting membership of the Residence Liaison Committee, which was set up to ease tension be tween students living in greek units and residence halls. Rishel. who is the RLC chairwom an, said it was not necessary for the committee’s non-voting members, which included the speaker ol the sen ate, the at-large member of the Appoint ments Board and three ASUN senators, to be in attendance at RLC meetings. ASUN president Andrew Loudon announced during the meeting that he had chosen Shawntell Hurtgen, a mem ber of the Government Liaison Com mittee, as the new GLC chairwoman. She replaces Doug Stobbe, who had resigned because of time conflicts. Loudon said after the meeting that he had chosen Hurtgen because she has the abil ity to organize events and meet ings, as well as to motivate people. “I think she will do an outstanding job,” he said during the meeting. “She has a big task ahead of her.” Gateway Continued from Page 1 mcnl stores — Dillard’s, JCPenncy, Montgomery Ward, Scars and Younkers. PatNckirk, Younkers general store manager, said the renovations were “absolutely wonderful.” “First of all. we were in competi tion with Omaha and other malls around us,” she said. “Now. we’ll be able to keep the traffic in Lincoln.” Nekirk said covering the garden mall would make shopping more con venient, because shoppers wouldn’t have to deal with the changing Nebras ka weather. “People in Lincoln have been wait ing for this a long time, and we’re really excited about it,” she said. Rob S imon, chic f exccuti ve officer of Ben Simon’s clothing store, said he preferred the outdoor mall and the fountain area. However, the new struc ture allowed for more stores to move into the area, he said. “It was enclosed for those people who didn’t like the hot summers or cold winters,” he said. “During the summer when it was tom up, we heard quite a few things about how bad it was, but now the tiles arc laid, and people have more posi tive comments about it.” Ben Simon’s had been located in Omaha’s Westroads Mall. Simon said I the malls in Omaha, such as Westroads, I Crossroads and Oak View, were com- I parable to Gateway. I “(Gateway) is bringing in some of I the same stores Oak View has,” he I said. “The numbers arc fairly the same I between Gateway and Crossroads, too. I Simon said the “newness” of the I renovation had drawn more people I into the mall. I “TrafTic has already picked up in I our store,” he said. I Phase two of the expansion plans I will include a new two-level JCPenney department store. When expansion is complete. Gateway Mall will have more than 1 million square feet and room for more than 100 stores. An architectural model of the project is on display inside Gateway Mall near the Montgomery Ward entrance. Want your name address phone removed from the Student Directory? The 1994-95 UNL Student Directory will be on campus mid-October. Your name, campus address and phone, and major will appear in the directory. If you want any or all of the information removed from the directory, you must fill out and sign a Student Directory Exclusion Form available at Service Counter 107C, Canfield Administration Bldg., before Friday, September 16, 1994. Please have your student ID available. This form is for EXCLUSION OF INFORMATION ONLY. Any name and address changes must be made with the Records Office. ZlMA on the Rocks CLCARMALT Zummers End Party Enter to win a-. 1. Mountain Bike 2. Lodging /or two in the Rockies or Black Hills 3. 104.10 CASH to get you there FRIDAY. Sept. 9th Listen to . for details mm, 322 SOUTH 9TH ST., LINCOLN, NE 68508 • 476-8551 TVus Pev£ecV W<5v)