Nevada youth hopes to don crown of Miss Teen USA

Friday, Aug. 1, 2003 | 4:27 a.m.

WEEKEND EDITION: August 2, 2003

In many ways, Ashley Nicole Phelps is a typical teenager who enjoys shopping, swimming, snowboarding and just having fun.

In other ways, the 15-year-old junior at Faith Lutheran High School, who maintains a 4.3 grade point average, is beyond typical.

Starting next week the Las Vegas resident of 10 years will set out to demonstrate just how special she is when she represents Nevada in the Miss Teen USA Pageant. She is the youngest of the 51 contestants.

"Being the youngest doesn't bother me at all because I am just as prepared, just as experienced and just as confident as many of the older girls," said Ashley, a 5-foot-7, blue-eyed blonde who started on the beauty pageant circuit at age 9 and has won several local and national titles.

Ashley entered the Miss Teen Nevada contest in November in Henderson with the intent of using it to gain experience for this year's state contest. She won instead, and now is headed to Palm Springs, Calif., her birthplace, for the national competition.

She already has under her belt national titles including Young Miss Hawaiian Tropic at 11, Amerikids National Beauty Pre-Teen at 12 and Amerikids National Beauty Teen at 14.

Once she turns 18 she wants to represent Nevada in the Miss America Pageant or possibly at 19, Miss Nevada USA.

"Those are two of my goals," Ashley said.

Her other goals: Go to Stanford University and major in psychology.

The founder and president of Faith Lutheran's Students Against Destructive Decisions chapter, Ashley said encouraging youth responsibility is her platform for the Miss Teen USA pageant.

To that end, Ashley, who has a steady boyfriend, says any boy who goes out with her has to respect her views on abstinence from sex.

"I just believe that is something I have to save for my husband," Ashley said. "That's what I feel is right for me. I don't judge others who don't believe as I do and I am not preachy about it."

Because Nevada is a small state, the Miss Nevada Teen contestant rarely makes the top 15 cut for the final gown and swimsuit competition. But local pageant officials are high on Ashley's chances.

"Ashley's biggest advantage is her age -- the judges are looking for a young, fresh-faced teenager, and she is the youngest in the pageant," said Margo Russell, co-director with her husband Bill Russell and Steve Bailey of the Miss Nevada USA/Miss Teen Nevada USA state pageants.

"She also is beautiful and wholesome -- not too sophisticated and not silly."

Getting ready

Russell, a longtime pageant judge, said it costs $5,000 to $10,000 to outfit and prepare a contestant for the national finals. That includes the pageant gown, a cocktail dress, an interview dress, interview training, travel and other related expenses.

But not the bikini for the swimsuit competition, which is provided by the pageant so that there is a uniformity in style.

"The swimsuit competition is necessary because it shows whether we are in good physical condition," Ashley said, noting that she trains two hours each day at Gold's Gym with with her personal trainer.

Ashley's workout includes kickboxing and weight lifting. Ashley says she has always been athletic, competing in gymnastics for three years, figure skating for six years and currently on the varsity track team. For the past four years she has studied tap dancing, but the upcoming pageant does not have a talent competition.

Ashley also has taken modeling and acting classes at the John Robert Powers school for the last five years. She has appeared in national TV commercials for Nestle and the Showtime cable network and in print ads for department store catalogs.

Such fashion modeling experience comes in handy, as one of Ashley's favorite hobbies is shopping.

Many pursuits

Ashley said that even though she enjoys the competition of beauty pageants as well as modeling and acting, getting an education is her -- and her family's -- top priority. Ashley's brother Adam graduated from Faith Lutheran last spring and will be attending Gonzaga University in the fall.

Ashley not only excels in her honors classes, but also is a member of the National Honor Society and the student council. Her after-school activities include volunteering at the Shade Tree Shelter for abused women and serving as a junior spokesmodel for the Variety Club for underprivileged children.

"Ashley has such enthusiasm for everything she does," said Rebecca Cheney, Ashley's cheerleader coach and student council adviser. "She is a self-motivated goal-setter -- a real doer.

How Ashley squeezes so much activity into a single day had Cheney dumbfounded until this past semester, when she saw Ashley come into school an hour early to receive tutoring from her husband, Mark Cheney, Ashley's chemistry teacher.

"Ashley makes that extra sacrifice to keep up with her schoolwork despite the many things she does," Rebecca Cheney said. "And she really enjoys the entire high school experience.

Family support

Another force keeping Ashley's feet on the ground is her mother, Roxanne Phelps, who has been supportive of her daughter's dreams.

"I haven't pushed her into any of the things she has wanted to do," said Roxanne, a rental property manager in the family business, Phelps Consulting Group. Her husband is Duke Phelps, a consultant for construction firms that are defendants in house construction defect cases.

"Ashley is ambitious. She comes to me and says I want to try this and she has proven that she will see things through to the end," Roxanne Phelps said.

The Miss Teen USA pageant is not a scholarship event, but rather offers the winner a one-year job and residence in New York City, serving as a spokesmodel for pageant-related events. A victory would take Ashley away from her home and school for that period.

"If I win, yes, I will miss things like cheerleading, but I have already had that experience," Ashley said.

Roxanne has concerns about her youngest child going to the Big Apple for a year.

"I know Ashley knows the right thing to do, but there is that peer pressure out there," Roxanne said, "All you can do is teach your children about the choices there are and hope they make the right choices in a world where we see so many negative images in the media and in the movies."

Ashley said she does not believe she is growing up too fast.

"I feel I'm growing up at a steady pace," she said. "All the years I have lived so far have brought me to a certain level of maturity and I have a long way to go. But I will only be a teenager once, and right now, I'm enjoying every minute of it."