LAS VEGAS — A 23-year-old beauty queen from Kenosha, Wis., won the Miss America pageant Saturday night in Las Vegas.
Laura Kaeppeler won the pageant after strutting in a white bikini and black-beaded evening gown, singing opera and answering a question about whether beauty queens should declare their politics by saying Miss America represents everyone.
Miss Oklahoma Betty Thompson came in second, while Miss New York Kaitlyn Monte placed third. The other two in the top five were Miss Arizona Jennifer Sedler and Miss California Noelle Freeman. Kaeppeler wins a $50,000 scholarship and gets the title for one year.
Kaeppeler said her career ambition was to become a speech pathologist. According to her website, she was once the child of an incarcerated parent, and her platform issue was to support the families and children of inmates.
A panel of seven judges picked Kaeppeler as the next Miss America during a live telecast on ABC, the culmination of a week of preliminary competitions and months of preparations for the titleholders from all 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Scanlan said she planned to use her scholarship to help pay for law school en route to a life in politics.
