WINNEMUCCA — Miss Nevada Christina Keegan accepted the Winnemucca City Council's proclamation declaring April "Sexual Assault Awareness Month".  Keegan represented CAASA (Community Advocates Against Sexual Assault) at Tuesday's (April 6) meeting of the council.

Keegan made sexual assault awareness her platform (Strength over Substance:  Rape Education and Recovery) and has spoken publicly about being sexually assaulted when she was 19 years old and traveling abroad with other students. Keegan was slipped a date-rape drug that knocked her out and she was then raped.

At first she said nothing; now she speaks out in an effort to give others a voice.  She told the council there are about 300,000 new victims of sexual assault every year, but that number is unreliable since so many sexual assaults go unreported.

"I don't think of myself as a victim," she said. "I am a survivor."

Keegan reminded the council April 22 is Denim Day -- the day to wear jeans in support of raising awareness on the issue of sexual assault, in support of sexual assault survivors, and as a reminder the only person to blame for sexual assault is the suspect -- not the victim.

**Keegan is from Gardnerville and is a medical student. However, in an interview with SPJ she said she was seriously considering entering the Peace Corps when her reign as Miss Nevada ends July 3.