After receiving fourth- runner-up in her first pageant last year, Brittany Leigh Jordan knew she had what it takes to be the next Miss Ohio American Teen.

Jordan proved herself to be right when she received the title at a pageant on June 14 and 15 at the Hyatt Regency in Columbus.

"I was really surprised to win, but I still knew I had a chance after placing fourth runner up the year before at my first pageant out of 169 girls," she said.

The 18-year-old is a graduate of Chesapeake High School and is the daughter of David and Tina Jordan of Chesapeake.

Jordan claims that her experiences in cheerleading have given her more confidence, which has helped with the pageants.

"Cheerleading helped me to not be as nervous during the pageants because we had gone to Nationals," Jordan said.

Nationals is a cheerleading competition where squads across the country perform in front of hundreds including judges, which makes it similar to pageants.

She was also involved in many volunteer activites with her church youth group before she entered in the pageants.

Jordan went to Arizona three years ago to work on an Indian reservation and also to Agua Prieta, Mexico, the past two years to work at free medical clinics the group had set up.

She is currently volunteering as a reading tutor and helping with cheerleading squads.

Her initial interest in pageants came from the suggestion by a former Miss Ohio American Teen, Shelli Webb, also from Chesapeake.

"When I was a freshman a girl from my school who won the 1996 Miss Ohio American Teen came to me and told me I should really be in the pageant," she said. "I just kept putting it off until last year when I called her and she helped me with everything for the pageant."

Jordan said that the pageants have been a good experience for her.

"I have had a lot of fun doing the pageants," she said. "It has just been exciting to meet so many people."

Besides being crowned 2003 Miss Ohio American Teen, Jordan also received $1,000 and a trip to Walt Disney World in Orlando, Fla., to participate in the Nationals competion.

"I am going to use the money I have won for college," she said.

With the national pageant coming up in the fall, Jordan is surprisingly not nervous about it.

"I am just glad to have made it this far," she said.

The pageant will be Thanksgiving Day weekend in Orlando, Fla., at Walt Disney World.

For now, Jordan is planning her trip away to school.

She leaves this Fall to attend the David Lipscomb University in Nashville, Tenn., where she is majoring in broadcast journalism.

"School is more scary to me than the national pageant because it is my first priority," Jordan said.

Jordan plans to participate in the pageants while in school.

"I am going to Orlando during Thanksgiving but I want to stay involved in pageants and maybe even on staff," she said.

Last year the winner of the national pageant received $10,000, but due to cutbacks Jordan is not sure on how much the winner will recieve this year.

If Jordan does win, she says that she plans to use the money for college.

"These pageants are a great opportunity to get money for school," she said.

The next event Jordan has planned is a meeting with Coach Jim Tressel of the Ohio State Buckeye football team August 15.