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Marsh, representing the state of Colorado, is also a Harvard University graduate student studying public policy. Madison Marsh had already made a name for herself as an officer in the US air force and a Harvard University graduate student when she took the stage at the 2024 Miss America pageant on Sunday night.
By the end of the evening, she had added another line to her résumé: the first
active-duty military service member to be crowned Miss America in the century-old pageant’s history. “I’m very excited to get to represent women who can break stereotypes,” Marsh, 22, said in an interview the pageant shared on its Instagram page after her win.
Dedicating her victory to her mother, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2018, she also remarked: “You can achieve anything … If I can come from a small town, not being a part of the pageant community, step into this role, so can you.” Marsh had been pursuing –
and achieving – lofty goals for years before clinching the Miss America title.
She entered the US air force academy as a cadet with a pilot’s license and ambitions
of becoming an astronaut in about 2020, as the military news outlet Stars and Stripes previously reported. More recently, she enrolled in graduate-level public policy classes at the Harvard Kennedy School, which were available to her through a special partnership with the air force.
But Marsh, who holds the military rank of 2Lt, focused on more than just her physics
& astronomy classes as she began rising in the air force. She also decided to compete in pageants during her first year at the air force academy near Colorado Springs, Colorado, figuring they would give her the opportunity to engage in community service and strengthen her public speaking skills, she reportedly told Stars and Stripes.
That all set the stage for Marsh to capture the title of Miss Colorado in May.
“I don’t think I ever would have gotten into Harvard if I wouldn’t have gone to the air
force academy. I don’t think I ever would have become Miss Colorado without the air force academy because they have trained me and honed in on my leadership,” Marsh said to the Harvard Crimson student newspaper.
Marsh’s victory as Miss Colorado qualified her for the Miss America pageant, which was founded in 1921. For the talent portion of the contest in Orlando, Florida, she delivered a monologue about difficulties she overcame when she completed her first solo flight as a pilot at the age of 16. The air force was among the first to congratulate Marsh after she topped the field of 51 competitors.
Miss Colorado, Madison March, poses in her evening gown.
“In her free time, Madison enjoys flying planes, cooking pasta, and reading,”
her Miss Colorado biography reads. Carlos Velez Studio/Courtesy Miss America.
“Congratulations to our very own airman, 2nd Lt Madison Marsh, Miss Colorado –
who was just crowned Miss America 2024!” the military branch wrote on the social
media platform X, also formerly known as Twitter, late Sunday. “Marsh is the first
active-duty service member to ever win the title. #AimHigh.”
For her part, Marsh wrote Monday on Instagram:
“Here’s to showing the world that women can do anything.”
She said she planned to spend her year-long stint in the role of Miss America raising public awareness about pancreatic cancer through a research and advocacy foundation named for her mother, Whitney Marsh. “To my momma – this whole year is for you,” Marsh also wrote on Monday. “If you were in the audience last night, I know you would have been my first hug.
The world is about to know your story, light and love.”
U.S. Air Force 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh prepares for a flight at
Nellis Air Force Base in Nevada, U.S. AIR FORCE PHOTO BY WILLIAM R. LEWIS
An officer in the U.S. Air Force was crowned Miss America on Sunday night. Second Lt. Madison Marsh is the first active-duty service member to win the annual competition, according to the Air Force. Marsh represented Colorado, the home of the U.S. Air Force Academy, in the pageant. She graduated from the academy last year with a degree in physics, according to her Miss Colorado bio.
In December, a few weeks before the pageant, Marsh told some fellow airmen before a flight from an Air Force base in Nevada that she was “trying to make it a positive thing
for the Air Force, for everyone.” Marsh started competing in pageants while attending the academy. “My cousin had competed in pageants for a long time, and one of the big things about it that I love is the community service aspect and the focus on public speaking,” she said in an interview with the Air Force Institute of Technology in November.
Since 2018, Marsh has been raising awareness and money for pancreatic cancer research through the foundation she founded with her father and sister in honor of her mother, who died from the disease. The Whitney Marsh Foundation has raised over a quarter-million dollars through events like 5K and 10K runs held in Marsh’s hometown of
Fort Smith, Arkansas.
Set Fire to the Rain ~ Adele
Madison Marsh, a Fort Smith native who has been crowned Miss America,
is coming home for a meet and greet in the U.S. Marshals Museum and a parade to follow Friday, May 10, 2024. A Fort Smith native who has been crowned Miss America is coming home. A homecoming parade and meet and greet event in the U.S. Marshals Museum is in store for Madison Marsh, the 2024 Miss America, on Friday, May 10.
Marsh was crowned Miss Colorado in 2023 and Miss America in 2024. She is a 2019 graduate of Southside High School. Marsh enrolled in the United States Air Force Academy in El Paso County, Colorado and graduated with a degree in astrophysics in 2023. She became a second lieutenant in the Air Force and enrolled in the Harvard Kennedy School to pursue a master of public policy degree, according to information
about her on Madison Marsh – Wikipedia
The City of Fort Smith and others organized a celebration for Marsh with a parade from 6:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on Garrison Avenue, from 6th Street to N. 10th Street. The parade will feature Marsh, Mayor George McGill, marching bands, local dance and cheer squads and more. People will have a chance to also meet Marsh in the U.S. Marshals Museum,
789 Riverfront Drive, from 2:45 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Friday, May 10, before the parade.
Congratulations to the new unstoppable Miss America 2024! #madisonmars… | TikTok
#madisonmarsh #missamerica #airforce #2024 #misscolorado #airforceacademy
Unstoppable (I put my armor on and show you how strong I am) – Sia
It was an honor to talk about military aviation with Miss America, Air Force 2LT Madison Marsh! (youtube.com)Madison Marsh: Fighter pilot, Harvard student, and 2024’s Miss America (usatoday.com)
Getting to Know Miss America 2024, Air Force 2LT Madison Marsh – YouTube
Miss America (@missamerica) • Instagram photos and videos