Florida, January 16: Madison Marsh, a 22-year-old second lieutenant in the US Air Force and a master's student in the Harvard Kennedy School's public policy programme, won the 2024 Miss America pageant on Sunday night, January 14, in Orlando, Florida. Making history as the first-ever active-duty Air Force officer to win the national title, Marsh represented Colorado. "You can achieve anything. The sky is not the limit, and the only person that's stopping you is you", Marsh said in an interview after winning the title.

She went on to say that anyone could enter the pageant world if she, who was raised in "a small town, not being part of the pageant," could. Brian Nguyen, First Transgender Who Won Local ‘Miss America’ Slammed by Leilani Dowding! Former Miss Great Britain Calls Beauty Pageant Winner an Overweight ‘Biological Male’ in Twitter Video.

Texas's Ellie Breaux finished as the first runner-up. According to CNN, fifty-one competitors took part in the competition, representing all 50 US states as well as the District of Columbia. "Congratulations to our very own #Airman, 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh, aka Miss Colorado - who was just crowned @MissAmerica 2024! Marsh is the first active-duty servicemember to ever win the title", read a tweet by the US Air Force congratulating Marsh via their official X (formerly Twitter) handle.

Remarkably, Marsh won the title of Miss Colorado in May 2023, a few days before she received her physics degree from the Air Force Academy. In addition to prepping for the Miss America pageant and earning her master's in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School, she faithfully enlisted in the military as a second lieutenant. Miss Universe Organisation Cuts Ties with Indonesia over Sexual Harassment Allegations.

Within the military, you are free to lead however you see fit, both inside and outside of uniform. I believed that pageants, and winning Miss Colorado in particular, was an opportunity to really embody that and to set the example so that others would feel more at ease discovering what matters most to them, Marsh told the local media after winning the title.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 16, 2024 05:46 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).