America’s Best: Miss Michigan Wins Miss USA Pageant
Since the earliest parts of time, women have been judged on their beauty as this is what would attract most men. Back then, times were much simpler as their purpose was to have children, take care of the family and home, and look beautiful for their husbands. Since then, some things have changed but judging women based on their beauty and other attractive attributes hasn't changed one bit.
In the early 1950s, they wanted to find a way to make women feel slightly better about being pitted against each other and decided to give them something to fight for. The Miss America pageant was created to find the best women in America. Every state has its competitions in regions before having a state competition, the winners of each statewide competition then compete for the Miss America Title. Miss Michigan winners are surprisingly very successful in Miss America competitions, and this year's winner from the Mitten State will add to the history books.
Michigan holds the record for placements in the Miss America Competitions as they have placed within the top 24 times. They have multiple podium finishes, several top 10, and even top 15 placements in Miss America Pageant history. Before this year, Miss Michigan was able to claim the Miss America crown 5 different times, and this year's winner will make it 6.
The previous 5 winners from Michigan are Patricia Donnelly (1939), Nancy Fleming (1961), Pamela Eldred (1970), Kaye Lani Rae Rafko (1988), and Kirsten Haglund (2008). Other Miss Michigan winners have won several preliminary awards, non-finalist awards, and awards labeled under "other" over the years. Miss Michigan from 2024 has put the state of Michigan on the map again after claiming the grand prize.
Who is Miss Michigan, Well Now Miss America?
Alma Cooper is a 22-year-old Michigan native who graduated from both Okemos High School and the Army West Point Military Academy. She is a second lieutenant and military intelligence officer in the U.S. Army and and is the first active duty military officer to be named Miss Michigan in April of 2024 shortly before the 2024 Miss America pageant.
Cooper wrote a letter asking for the opportunity to compete in the Miss USA pageant as Miss Michigan and represent the Mitten State. Below are some of the quotes she had from that letter:
Service comes in many forms and my only limitations are the ones I accept. This has been my guiding credo, an unshakeable belief that has fueled my path as an Afro-Latina woman from a predominantly white, rural Midwestern town, to compete as the first active-duty Army officer in Miss Michigan USA. Other contestants may be drawn to pageants for their glitz and glamour, but I see the stage as an opportunity to represent the many girls of color who often go unseen and unheard, and to inspire others to free themselves from circumstances and perceptions about who they are.
Cooper has always achieved in life as a varsity volleyball player for Okemos and even obtained her status as a Knight-Hennessy Scholar at Stanford, a competitive graduate-level scholarship. During the pageant, she explained her passion behind her appearance in this quote below:
As the daughter of a migrant worker, a proud Afro-Latina woman, and an officer in the United States Army, I am living the American dream
Now, she can live out one more dream as she was crowned Miss USA and can hold on to that crown forever as she has inspired so many young women of color that they can chase their dreams no matter what they are.