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" Where did you grow up? I am an Air Force brat \u2014 that&amp;#039;s the terminology they use for military kids who are traveling constantly. I went to eight different schools my first nine years of school. (Click here to read Vanessa&amp;#039;s answers to your moving questions.) Were you a good student? Did you like school? I did like school. Though going back now, I would have appreciated more of the schedule, my friends, and just the fun about high school. I was an overachiever. I was in every club and everything that you could possibly do. I tried to sign up for AP courses my junior and senior year and get college credits. I think there should be a good balance between being a good student and being able to enjoy your high school life. What was the most popular trend when you were going to school?  Well, the thing about my high school, which I loved, is that we had uniforms. But whenever we had a free dress day, it was prep-ville, with sweater vests and polo shirts and khakis and Dockers. Did you receive a superlative in high school? If so, what was it? We didn&amp;#039;t do quotes. In fact, we didn&amp;#039;t even do senior superlatives, but they allowed our parents and our friends and families to do stuff at the very back of the yearbook, and my dad and mom&amp;#039;s quote was, &amp;quot;If you&amp;#039;re gonna do it, do it right. We&amp;#039;re so proud of you.&amp;quot; What is the craziest thing you ever did to get a guy to notice you? My boyfriend&amp;#039;s dad said, &amp;quot;You should try out for Miss South Carolina Teen USA, I think my son will really appreciate you if you&amp;#039;re a beauty queen and win a pageant.&amp;quot; I couldn&amp;#039;t afford the $1,000 fee, so my boyfriend&amp;#039;s dad had all of his friends pay $100. He handed me the check and said, &amp;quot;You have no excuse.&amp;quot; And what do you know, I ended up winning and won Miss Teen USA in 1998. What was your summer job?  My after-school job was at the Limited because I got a discount on clothes. Whenever we had free dress days, I went, like, to the nines, head to toe, in the Limited gear. Find out how Vanessa&amp;#039;s life has changed from then to now on the --&amp;amp;gt;.  What was your style when you were 17? What is it like now? I was a jeans girl then, and I&amp;#039;m a jeans girl now. But it was probably a little more preppy and safe. What kind of clique were you in back then? Now? I feel like because of eight different schools in my first nine years of school, I can talk to anyone and feel comfortable \u2014 I can talk to a fly on the wall, I can talk to the athletes, or I can talk to a book worm, etc. I feel like one thing that I&amp;#039;ve been blessed to be able to experience is different cultures and different people and different personalities, so even in high school, I was a cheerleader, but I also played sports, but then on the flip side, during lunch, I&amp;#039;d have to go in for my meetings for student council or for the honor society. And now, I don&amp;#039;t know what clique I&amp;#039;m in. Hopefully we&amp;#039;re all adults now, and we don&amp;#039;t need cliques anymore now, right? What rumors were people spreading about you then? Now? Teenagers are teenagers, and even to this day, we still spread rumors, and people like to say things that are hurtful. I&amp;#039;m not gonna lie \u2014 I am a girl, and I do have feelings.  What nicknames did you have back then? Now? My close friends called me Neka. Don&amp;#039;t ask me why. Now, it&amp;#039;s V. It&amp;#039;s easy, it&amp;#039;s to the point, I&amp;#039;m just V. What were your hobbies back then? Now? I loved anything outdoorsy, but I also loved writing in my journal. I felt that it was interesting for me to write down what&amp;#039;s going on in my life when I was happy, when I was sad, when I was confused, and when I had questions, and then going back and reading. Now I get on the Internet, and I&amp;#039;ll either shop or e-mail people, whereas back then it was picking up a journal and writing. Who was your best friend? Is she still your best friend now? My best friend then was probably my boyfriend growing up. We did everything together. I&amp;#039;ve learned as I&amp;#039;ve gotten older that there&amp;#039;s a way to balance your girlfriends and your boyfriend. Now, my best friend \u2014 besides my boyfriend \u2014 is my girlfriend Jennifer. She was my roommate at the Miss Teen USA Pageant. We live down the street from each other now. What advice did your parents give you when you were 17? Now? My dad always said, &amp;quot;People are always going to try to build you up to take you down. People are always going to be jealous, not just of you but of each other. They&amp;#039;re always going to want more.&amp;quot; So he just passed the skill on to me to believe in who I was. Letter to my 17-year-old self: Dear Vanessa, Enjoy high school more, and really just soak in all of the moments \u2014 the fun sleepovers, the dances, moments with your girlfriends, boyfriend, any clubs that you&amp;#039;re in. I wouldn&amp;#039;t try to rush it. Slow down, enjoy the moment, and really appreciate your parents a little more. Being 17 isn&amp;#039;t the end of the world \u2014 it only gets better! Love, V "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.seventeen.com/celebrity/interviews/a27993/vanessa-minnillo-teenager/>