Moved by family illness, Miss IUB hopes to educate

It is safe to say that a single phone call changed how IU sophomore and newly crowned Miss Indiana University Lindsey Roscoe looked at her college experience -- and her life. \nSitting in her dorm in September 2005, the then-freshman got news from her father that her cousin, also an IU freshman, was in the hospital with a severe case of meningitis. \n"I had really never heard much about meningitis before," Roscoe said. "I got online and did some research and then it hit me that this was a fatal disease. My cousin would have to fight for her life." \nRoscoe's cousin, Ashley Lee, now a sophomore, did fight, and she survived her bout with the disease. But just because it was gone doesn't mean it was forgotten. The 20-year-old has made meningitis awareness her platform focus for her reign as Miss IUB.\n"What stuns me is that a lot of people have no idea about the dangers of the disease," she said. "I was lucky because I had a doctor who told me it was important to be vaccinated before college. Ashley obviously didn't have that." \nHer platform is called "Get the Facts and Get the Vacs," and Roscoe said she has plans of not only influencing the campus with knowledge of meningitis, but the state as well.\nIU requires mandatory vaccinations for the measles, rubella, mumps, tetanus and diphtheria. In regards to meningitis, students are only required to sign a waiver that they have reviewed the dangers of the disease before their freshman year. \nFor Roscoe, this isn't nearly enough. Alongside her cousin, who is now a spokeswoman for the National Meningitis Association, Roscoe plans to use her title to help raise support for a statewide bill that would force all Indiana colleges to require a meningitis vaccination for all students. \n"I'm passionate about this issue not only because of what happened to my cousin," she said, "but because this is something that could affect every student at IU. So many people think it could never happen to them, but it can." \nTo get the word out, the pageant queen will utilize one of her greatest strengths: her strong presence in front of an audience. Making plans to speak in front of groups on both the community and campus levels, she said being in front of people has always been natural for her. \n"I started dancing when I was in the third grade, and I can remember my ballet instructor telling us she would shoot us if we didn't smile on stage," she said. "So, I guess now, whenever I hit that stage and start to feel nervous at all, I just smile." \nRoscoe was all smiles when she took the title of Miss IUB on Sunday in Alumni Hall of the Indiana Memorial Union. \nThe little girl who used to sing and dance in front of her family's camcorder sang for the judges "At Last", a song made famous by singer Etta James. \n"A lot of my friends were shocked after I sang," she said. "But you have to know my family -- they are all very vocal, very loud. Of course I have to know how to be loud if I want to be heard around them."\nBut her family has instilled more in her than just the appropriate volume levels, she said. They have taught her the meaning of a healthy lifestyle and a strong sense of responsibility.\n"Everyone in my family is a runner," she said. "I was raised surrounded by an active lifestyle and I know that I'll never be the girl who is bone-thin -- I want muscle." \nRoscoe said she works out as much as she can and that she would rather be fit than thin. So, she said she doesn't understand when those opposed to pageants raise issues of standards of beauty.\n"I can only laugh," she said. "The women in the Miss America Organization that I have met are all strong, independent and intelligent women.\n"This pageant has done so much for me. I have developed so much confidence in myself through my experiences competing. And for me, this is about scholarship money and a chance to represent IU."\nAs Miss IUB, Roscoe will compete in the Miss Indiana Pageant this June in Zionsville, Ind.