Gwinnett Daily Post

DACULA - A Gwinnett County woman held the title of Miss Georgia for a day.

Dacula resident Kristina Higgins, 24, was named Miss Georgia 2009 on Saturday at the state pageant in Columbus but relinquished the crown Sunday.

"Due to my current job responsibilities as a middle school teacher and the responsibilities and time commitment of a Miss Georgia, I have decided to not fulfill the duties of Miss Georgia 2009," Higgins said in a statement released by the Miss Georgia Scholarship Pageant.

Higgins would have gone on to compete in this year's Miss America Pageant.

"This is just someone realizing after winning the title ultimately she really didn't want to do it. She's already graduated from college, she'd started her career and bought a house," said Mansfield Bias, executive director of the pageant. "I think she realized she did not want to give up a year of her life as Miss Georgia when she had already started her life. We just wish she would have realized it sooner."

The title of Miss Georgia 2009, and the accompanying $15,000 scholarship, now belongs to first runner-up Emily Cook of Marietta.

Bias said it was unfortunate that Cook was "denied that experience of winning the title, that moment of being crowned."

According to her bio for the Miss Capital City pageant, an official preliminary to the statewide pageant, Higgins graduated from Georgia College and State University with a degree in special education and most recently taught at Mill Creek High School in Hoschton.

Higgins competed for the title of Miss Georgia in 2008 and 2007 and, according to her bio, has received more than $14,000 in scholarship money from participating in the Miss America

program.

Higgins could not be reached for comment.