I Tuesday, March 2, 2010 Brianna Lang poses for a friend on the beach. Lang became one of Playboy Magazine's Girls of the Big Ten in November 2007. Lang balances life as Playboy model and student By Laurie Stern COLLEGIAN STAFF WRITER A' passionate Penn State football fan, Brianna Lang was disappointed when she had to miss the home game against Purdue in 2007. But to her, the opportunity to tailgate in the nude wasn't such a bad consolation prize. Her roommate was joking when she suggested Lang enter a contest to become one of Playboy Magazine’s Girls of the Big Ten. But Lang entered any way. And in November 2007, she found herself modeling on a set staged to look like a Penn State tailgate. “It was so nerve-wracking waiting, because I didn’t get the call until the last possible day,’' Lang said. “I didn’t think I got it at all.” Swept into a world of auto graph signings and Playboy pro motions, Lang is trying to bal ance life as an active Penn State student with getting her stiletto in the door. A senior about to graduate with a biobehavioral health degree, the Pittsburgh native plans on attending nursing school at Robert Morris University next year and is pur suing more opportunities in modeling. But she doesn’t let the Playboy stereotype define her. While some people may consider this s’B” blonde beauty just another Playmate-wannabe on Hugh Hefner’s arm, she said one revealing picture does not reveal her true character. Go nude or gc home Lang can vividly recall the day of her Playboy modeling tryout. She was anxious as she sat in the waiting room of a State College hotel, flipping through the stack of Playboys on the table. She didn’t have a car, so she walked to the hotel. She couldn’t help but compare herself to the other girls in the room. Nervously waiting to be called in to meet the photogra pher, she wondered, “What makes me any better than the other 200 girls who want this? When her turn came, Lang was asked to go into the bath room and disrobe. At first, she said she left on the “special bra and panties” she bought for the occasion, and in front of a white i y/r:;! j ; ... j * i lira backdrop, her photograph was taken from four angles. “[The photographer] said, 'lf you're comfortable, take your top off.' This guy is a profession al. It was worth a shot, - ’ Lang said. "I thought, ‘This is probably the only opportunity I’ll get to try out for Playboy. I mean, it’s Playboy come on.' ” Her willingness to bare it all paid off. “The photographer called me and I was in class, so it went to voicemail,” Lang said. “ ‘We want you to pose for one of our group shots with four other girls,' he said. I think I still have the voicemail saved on my phone.” Say cheese Though she said she would have entered the contest with or without their blessing, Lang said her parents had mixed emotions about the impending photo shoot. While her mother was leery from the beginning, Lang’s father initially told her to go for it he didn’t think she’d get it. But Lang said her sister Ashlee, who is one year older and a graduate student at the University of Pittsburgh, wasn’t too keen on her little sister pos ing for the magazine. Ashlee Lang said Brianna always had an interest in model ing, but she didn’t necessarily think her first professional pho tographs would be so blatantly marketed toward men. On the day of the shoot, Lang and the other girls selected were shuttled to a log cabin in the woods. They did their own hair and kept their makeup natural. Though she felt comfortable showing her body around the other girls, it took time to adjust to the 10 crewmembers on the set. While she said she exercises regularly, dieting is not an option for this self-proclaimed fast food enthusiast. She even admitted to /Tost people think Playboy lVldegrades women, which is fine. People are entitled to disagree. I think it’s great to showcase how beautiful women can be and they are.” eating three Taco Bell burritos the day before her shoot. “You would think I wouldn’t do that because they’ll see me naked the next day, but I was hungry,” Lang said. “I wasn’t self-conscious though. You must look pretty OK if you get chosen out of 200 girls.” The shoot itself only lasted 40 minutes. Before she knew it, Lang was brought back to reality as an average Penn State stu dent. Penn State poster child Lang is deeply rooted in the campus community, participat ing in a diverse array of extracurricular activities. As a Lion Scout, she gives campus tours to potential Penn State students, hoping to share the Penn State pride that runs through her and her family. Armed with a cheerful disposi tion, she said seeing Penn State with an enthusiastic tour guide is the key to convincing others that Penn State is the place for them. And though she only started walking backwards since becom ing a Lion Scout, Lang has been tiptoeing since the age of four. As a member of Vole, a cam pus dance company, Lang does both ballet and pointe. “All that workout counteracts my bad eating habits,” she joked. But ultimately, Lang said she hopes to be a physician’s assis tant and already has some expe rience in the field as a volunteer Emergency Medical Technician (EMT) with a State College ambulance company. While she enjoys driving the ambulance and tinkering with the lights and sirens on occa sion, it’s the graver moments during the last three years that have stuck with her. She’s responded to four calls in which someone was in cardiac arrest, and in all four cases, the patient didn’t survive. In one instance, a 10-year-old girl was Asit Mishra'Coiiegian Brianna Lang (junior-biobehavioral health), left, and her Lion Scout partner talk to potential students during a campus tour. pronounced dead upon the ambulance’s arrival, but Lang stayed at the hospital with the family, consoling the girl's little brother while his distraught par ents spoke to the doctors. No matter the patient or the injury, whether she's doing com pressions or bagging, Lang’s goal is to use her training to help those in need. “You get such a rush from it,” Lang said. “You want to do everything you can to help save the person.” Family support Lang separates her life as a Penn State student and her deci sion to pose for Playboy. But oth ers have been more critical of her decision, both openly and behind her back. After the magazine release, Lang took part in a number of Playboy promotions, including a radio show interview where she was asked some rather personal questions. “They asked me if I would have sex with JoePa,” Lang said. Remaining true to her school, she said she would. An autograph signing at McLanahan’s Student Store, 414 E. College Ave., was also on her agenda. After an article covering the event appeared in the next day’s newspaper, Lang remem bers overhearing a couple of girls in her microbiology class discussing how there was no conceivable way the parents of the models could actually sup port them. Lang turned around and said, “Actually, my parents are very proud of me.” “In the end, my family sup ported me,” Lang said. “Most people think Playboy degrades women, which is fine. People are entitled to disagree. I think it’s great to showcase how beautiful women can be and they are. As long as my family and friends are supportive and proud of me, I’m going to do it, NEXT DOOR Brianna Lang senior - biobehavioral health The Daily Collegian JF ~ because it makes me so happy.” She even used her Playboy status to help raise money for the Interfraternity Council/Panhelienic Dance Marathon, participating in a date auction. Lang went for $9O, and even though the two men who bid on her never ended up calling to take her out to dinner, Lang said she was happy to be able to use modeling to help contribute to the cause. She said she occasionally receives creepy e-mails and text messages from men who have seen her picture, but she does her best to put it out of her mind. Her current boyfriend, Colin Schroeder, said he doesn’t let the thought of other men seeing her naked affect their relationship. “I just brush it off,” Schroeder (junior-chemical engineering and economics) said. “To me, it’s not that huge of a deal, because that’s not the reason I date her. I sup port her in whatever she wants to do and what makes her happy.” A headshot in the dark Lang insists that maintaining good grades and continuing her education is her top priority, but she’s not going to let that stand in the way of her future in mod eling. She’d love to be a Playboy Playmate and get a multi-page spread in the magazine some day. Though she has never met or spoken with Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, Lang said that after appearing in the magazine, she has been invited to attend a party at the Los Angeles, Calif., mansion famous for exotic ani mals, steamy grottos and, of course, beautiful women. While Lang said she has no regrets about putting herself out there, she doesn’t want her experience with Playboy to define her. Her resume doesn’t list the accomplishment, as she doesn’t want it to affect future employment opportunities. But as far as Lang is con cerned, the opinion of people beyond her close friends and family has no place in her life. “She’s very mature and well adjusted and veiy confident in herself,” Ashlee Lang said. “She knows whose opinions to trust and who’s not that important. I’m really proud of her.” To e-mail reporter Iqsso76@psu.edu
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