Laura Kaeppeler from Wisconsin won the Miss America pageant, besting 52 other hopefuls at Saturday's event in Las Vegas, U.S. media reported on Sunday.
The 23-year-old beauty queen from Kenosha, Wisconsin, won the contest after singing opera and strutting in a white bikini and black beaded evening gown. She also had to answer a question about whether beauty queens should declare their politics.
'Miss America represents everyone, so I think the message to political candidates is that they represent everyone as well. And so in these economic times, we need to be looking forward to what America needs, and I think Miss America needs to represent all," she said.
Kaeppeler, who majored in music and vocal performance at a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Kenosha, also won a $50,000 scholarship and a yearlong reign as Miss America.
She also told pageant officials that she planned to obtain a master's degree in speech and language pathology and become a speech therapist.
