CAMPUS AND AREA
University Daily Kansan, July 18, 1984
Page 6
Miss Kansas says 'knowing herself' is toughest
By MICHELE HINGER Staff Reporter
The hardest command for the new Miss Kansas is an ancient one — "Know thyself."
Nancy Cobb, Wichita junior at the University of Kansas, said that the research required to handle current events questions from pageant judges was nothing compared to the difficult task of understanding herself.
"The personal questions were the hardest," said Cobb, who as Miss Lawrence won the Miss Kansas title
last week at the state pageant in Pratt.
COBB WILL COMPETE in the Miss America contest in Atlantic City, N.J., in the fall.
"It's not so hard to study literature and memorize facts," Cobb said. "But no matter how well you think you know yourself, you've got to be prepared for some question from a judge that will crack you.
"You've got to stand for what you believe in."
Access to the Library of Congress gave Colb's research efforts a boost. Cobb said that a friend who worked for Kansas Sen. Nancy Landon
Kassebaum was able to send her material on subjects that judges were likely to ask about — and that covered a lot of area.
"I had to know about everything from euthanasia to anorexia, and spent a lot of time reading the Wall Street Journal, Newsweek and USA Today," said Cobb, 20, a member of the Kappa Alpha Theta sorority at KU.
THIS PAGEANT IS not Cobb's first. She has won almost $8,000 in scholarships, including awards from last week's state pageant and last November's Miss Lawrence pageant. Cobb also won prizes for being
named first runner-up in last year's Miss Kansas pageant, where she participated as Miss Wichita.
Winning pageants gets tougher every year, said Cobb, because the standards are changing.
"Pageants have changed drastically since they started as bathing-beauty contests," Cobb said. "Now they look for a person who appeals to a broad spectrum of tastes, and you only have 20 minutes to prove yourself in the judges' interview."
GETTING NERVOUS DURING interviews is healthy, Cobb said, but she never loses her self-control.
"It helps to remember that judges aren't demons waiting to destroy you," she said. "They're real people, too."
COBB SAID that her pageant experiences would help her when interviewing for jobs.
"I doubt they could put me through anything a pageant judge hasn't," she said.
Cobb will take 12 hours this fall, to give her time to prepare for the Miss America pageant next spring. And if she should become Miss America, school will be out of the question for the next year.
Nancy Cobb
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