Air Force Officer Nabs Miss America Crown
Madison Marsh is the first active duty service member to win the pageant title.
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U.S. Air Force 2nd Lieutenant Madison Marsh has been crowned Miss America 2024. [Courtesy: U.S. Air Force]
Air Force officer Madison Marsh earned a new title Sunday night. The 2nd lieutenant and recent U.S. Air Force Academy (USAFA) graduate was crowned Miss America 2024.
Winning the top prize in the pageant marks a first for both the event's organizers and the U.S. military.
"Marsh is the first active duty service member to ever win the title," the Air Force said in a statement on X, formerly Twitter.
Miss America is Madison Marsh from Colorado! #ThereSheIs
— Miss America (@MissAmerica) January 15, 2024
📸: Houston M Photography pic.twitter.com/fhj66Om5mf
Though competing as Miss Colorado, Marsh is originally from Fort Smith, Arkansas. She recently earned a degree in physics from the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
The pilot took her first flight lesson when she was 15 and has interned with NASA researching gamma-ray bursts. She also has worked with the Etelman Observatory conducting limiting magnitude studies in the U.S. Virgin Islands, according to Air Force Air Education and Training Command (AETC).
"Upon graduation from USAFA and commissioning into the Air Force, Marsh received a pilot slot and is currently determining the career opportunities and personal projects she wants to pursue," AETC said in November.
Marsh is now pursuing a master's degree from Harvard Kennedy School in public policy, KXRM-TV in Colorado Springs reported.
Her course of study is rooted in personal loss, according to Colorado Springs’ TV station KKTV.
“I began advocating for greater research…following my mom Whitney’s diagnosis with pancreatic cancer when I was still in high school,” Marsh told KKTV in an email. “I have since dedicated myself to the cause, including being accepted to the Harvard Kennedy School to obtain my master’s in public policy to create a future in which no one has to suffer the way my family did following my mom’s passing. I especially love showing that women within our nation’s military are multifaceted and capable of serving both the community and our country at the same time."
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