Miss Colorado is reaching new heights.
Centennial State pageant winner Madison Marsh will make history this weekend as the first active-duty Air Force officer to compete for the title of Miss America.
“It’s an incredible experience to bring both sides of my favorite parts of my life together and hopefully make a difference so others can realize that you don’t have to limit yourself,” the 22-year-old Arkansas native told SWNS. .
“In the military, it’s an open space to really lead the way you want, in and out of uniform. “I felt like pageants, and specifically winning Miss Colorado, were a way to truly exemplify that and set the tone to help other people feel more comfortable finding what means the most to them.”
She will join 49 other beauty queen hopefuls in the competition on the Florida stage on Jan. 13 and 14, about eight months after taking the Miss Colorado crown.
The achievement came just days before he graduated from the Air Force Academy with a bachelor’s degree in physics, according to his biography.
Marsh diligently joined the branch as a second lieutenant, while also pursuing her master’s degree in Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School and training for the Miss America pageant.
Madison Marsh, an Air Force pilot, represents Colorado in the Miss United States pageant. William R. Lewis/USAF/SWNS
“For me, it’s fantastic because I need to stay in good physical shape and in the gym for military service, so it already coincides with training for the contest,” said the ambitious.
Marsh’s journey to competing on the Miss United States stage was a winding one: She had her eyes set on earning a pilot’s license years before she considered competing in pageants.
After spending his childhood attending space camps and enjoying flying lessons, Marsh joined the Air Force Academy in El Paso County, Colorado, to make his dreams come true.
Marsh was crowned Miss Colorado just days before graduating from the US Air Force Academy. Instagram/missamericaco
It was then that he decided to venture into competitions as an extracurricular activity.
“As a first-year student at the Academy, you may find it difficult to find your identity in a very new and challenging environment,” Marsh told SWNS, adding that her cousin had a history in the culture and always praised the “aspect of community service and the focus on public speaking.”
She took home the Miss Colorado crown just three years later.
Marsh is the first active duty military officer to compete in the Miss American pageant. Instagram/missamericaco
Madison says, “It was very surreal. “I believe I am the first active duty officer of any branch to represent at the national level of the Miss America organization.”
The modern-day “Top Gun” pilot even has her own Goose: Marsh’s mustachioed boyfriend who bears a striking resemblance to Tom Cruise, aka Maverick’s sidekick in the 1986 hit film.
Marsh’s boyfriend bears a striking resemblance to Goose from the 1986 film “Top Gun.” Instagram/missmadisonmarsh, ©Paramount/Courtesy Everett Collection
If she were to win the national crown this weekend, Marsh emphasized that she would continue to use her platform to talk to young women about military service and dispel stereotypes that exist about military women.
Although the beauty queen fighter pilot has ample possibilities waiting for her, Marsh said her journey will likely lead her into cancer research, a career inspired by the loss of her mother to pancreatic cancer.
“Toward the end of my time at USAFA, I began to realize that my greatest passions were policymaking and cancer research, and that’s why I ended up at the Kennedy School,” he said.
“Now I’m trying to take the next step and use my studies from the Kennedy School to learn about the inner workings and difficulties of what policies are really like… Issues like the economic environment and other social pressures that could be inhibiting our ability to implement cancer policies that can affect all Americans.”
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Source: vtt.edu.vn