UNCASVILLE, Conn. — Your newest Miss America hails from the Midwest!
At Thursday night's finals, Grace Stanke, aka Miss Wisconsin, was crowned Miss America 2023.
Along with the title and crown, Stanke, 20, was awarded a $50,000 cash scholarship and a six-figure salary, in addition to a $2,500 scholarship she received as a preliminary talent winner for her classical violin performance.
“Being crowned Miss America 2023 is impossible to put into words – it is a dream come true and has literally changed my life in an instant,” Stanke said in a statement released by the Miss America Organization.
“I am so grateful for the opportunity to compete alongside so many inspiring, brilliant, talented women. I hope to live up to the impeccable legacy of Miss America, serving as a positive role model for women of all ages and my community."
Stanke, a senior at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and originally from Wausau, championed her social impact initiative "Clean Energy, Cleaner Future" while competing on the Miss America stage. The nuclear engineering major said she believes the U.S. needs to convert to zero-carbon energy sources and is working to dispel misconceptions about nuclear power.
Her win comes on the 50th anniversary of the first Miss Wisconsin to win Miss America, Terry Meeuwsen.
According to the Miss America Organization, Miss America is "the most visible external facing representative of the mission of the Miss America Organization," whose job includes "positively advancing the goals and objectives of MAO as well as her own Social Impact Initiative."
Taryn Delanie Smith (Miss New York), Avery Bishop (Miss Texas), Elizabeth Lynch (Miss West Virginia) and Kelsey Hollis (Miss Georgia) won first, second, third, and fourth runners-up, respectively.
Closer to home, Miss Minnesota Rachel Evangelisto made history as the first Indigenous woman to represent the state.
Her evening gown, designed by Fernando Wong and created by Red Berry Woman, paid homage to her Lakota roots with smoked deer hide and hand-beaded Dakota florals. The gown's striking orange color also represents the Every Child Matters Movement, which "honors the children that died and were lost in the boarding school system," according to her Facebook page.
"Baby Rachel would be stunned she made it to the Miss America stage. No matter what happens tonight, I gave it my all and wouldn’t change a thing," Evangelisto wrote on the Miss Minnesota Instagram page ahead of the finals. "Thank you to everyone who has been in my corner, who has supported me, who has picked me up when it’s gotten hard, and who cheered me on through the successes. Here’s to a lifelong dream!"
In total, Evangelisto will end up with about $29,000 in college scholarships throughout her time in the competition and said she plans to put that money toward law school to obtain her Juris Doctorate in Native American Law through the Native American Law & Sovereignty Institute at Mitchell Hamline School of Law.
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