2024 Miss America talks flying planes and winning pageants
Air Force pilot Madison Marsh shares an inspiring message on ‘America Reports’ after being crowned 2024 Miss America.
U.S. Air Force officer Madison Marsh, the first active duty service member to be crowned Miss America, plans to continue her commitment to the military while embarking on her new role.
"We're really trying to mesh both of these roles together, as me remaining on active duty and maybe potentially becoming a recruiter for the Air Force," Marsh told "America Reports" Wednesday.
The 22-year-old recent U.S. Air Force Academy graduate, who represented Colorado, made history with Sunday's 2024 Miss America win.
MISS COLORADO BECOMES THE FIRST AIR FORCE PILOT TO COMPETE FOR MISS AMERICA
Marsh began flying at 15 years old and became interested in pageants her freshman year at the academy when her cousin competed.
"Along the way, I've learned all of the leadership opportunities and especially what I can do as Miss America," she said.
The pilot also praised the Air Force for supporting her education and outside interests.
"I wouldn't be able to be Miss America or even gone to Harvard without the opportunities that the Air Force provided. They gave me all of the tools at the Air Force Academy to compete in pageants, to get the scholarships I received, to send me to Harvard while I'm still active duty," she said.
"So we really want to mesh these two roles together, so I can advocate for people that are armed service members and really try to get more people to join the service."
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Marsh is a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School and has dedicated her life to pancreatic cancer research after her mother died from the disease in 2018. She is also looking at how to use artificial intelligence to detect the cancer early.
"She died when she was 41 years old. We had no cancer history. She was really healthy. She didn't have any of those high-risk factors, and she still passed away," Marsh explained.
The new Miss America said she sees her pancreatic cancer work and the nonprofit sector as the next steps after her Air Force service.
"I want to be able to provide hope for other families and really push in every sector down from congressional up to research and funding to ensure that everyone is being taken care of," she said.
"Because if my mom can't get to be here, I want to ensure that other families get to have their moms, brothers, sisters, fathers, you name it. That's the type of person that I want to be for my mom."
Fox News' Janelle Ash and Gabriel Hays contributed to this report.