Meet the first active-duty Air Force officer to win Miss America

Madison Marsh made history at the 2024 Miss America competition this past weekend.

The 22-year-old, who is a certified pilot and a 2nd lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force, not only won the crown but made history as the first active-duty officer to do so.

Marsh is the epitome of brains and beauty. She won Miss Colorado in 2023, has a physics degree from the Air Force Academy, and is currently pursuing her master’s in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School.

The U.S. Air Force joined the celebration, hitting up social media Sunday after the Miss America competition to shower Marsh with well-deserved congratulations.

After she won, Marsh spoke about her mom’s death from pancreatic cancer in 2018.

“I really want to be able to go global with pancreatic cancer and share my mom’s story and be able to raise money and increase research funds for pancreatic cancer,” Marsh said in an interview shared via Miss America’s Instagram story. “You can achieve anything. The sky is not the limit and the only person that’s stopping you is you.”

Marsh and her family launched the Whitney Marsh Foundation in her mother’s honor in 2019, and since then, they’ve raised over $230,000.

The 2024 Miss America competition was held in Orlando, and Marsh’s winnings include a $60,000 tuition scholarship and the opportunity to travel across the U.S. as the Miss America brand ambassador.

By Scripps News