For the first time in the history of Miss America pageant, Miss north dakota was crowned Miss America on Sunday night, September 10, in Atlantic City. In the last 100 years this is the first time, North Dakota has won the coveted beauty crown thanks to Cara Mund. The winner is a 23-yead old graduate from Brown University who took a stand against President Donald Trump and criticized him for pulling out of the Paris Climate Accord. Cara defeated 51 other beauty queens to win the Miss America crown at the New Jersey resort, which has been hosting the pageant for years.
The winner’s journey
Mund won the crown after passing through five categories of selection. The categories used to filter the candidates were, evening wear, lifestyle and fitness, interview, talent, and lastly, the onstage questions. Mund can be called a veteran in the beauty pageant line as she was previously crowned Outstanding Teen, Miss Pre-Teen, Little Miss, and Miss Junior Teen in North Dakota. The beauty queen then went on to win Miss North Dakota and finally she has brought the national beauty crown to her state.
In the talent round Mund went on to perform a jazz dance to Michael Jackson’s “The Way You Make Me Feel”. Miss North Dakota, during the last hurdle – the onstage questions, criticized President Trump on withdrawing from the Paris Climate Accord.
For the unfamiliar, the climate deal is signed by many nations, all over the world to contribute in the reduction of global greenhouse gas emissions. The 23-year old stated that pulling out from the climate agreement was a bad decision as there is conclusive and substantial evidence that climate change is real and is affecting one and all.
Mund nurtures her dream of becoming the first female governor of her state and she also wants more women to be selected to fill in positions at all levels of the government.
The beauty queen who won the crown of Miss America in 2016, Savvy Shields, represented the state of Arkansas. Mund will be receiving a scholarship worth $50,000 along with a six-digit salary during her one year term as the Miss America.
Although she has been accepted as a law student at Notre Dame, Mund plans to postpone her study plans for a year so that she could focus on the responsibilities as the new Miss America in full capacity.
Other winners at the national beauty pageant
While Mund was crowned Miss America 2017, Miss Missouri, Jennifer Davis, was the first runner-up and Kaitlyn Schoeffel , representing the state of New Jersey, bagged the position of the second runner up. The other contestants who reached the top five, Miss D.C., Briana Kinsey, and Miss Texas, Margana Wood, won the third and fourth runner up positions, respectively.
