Laura Kaeppeler - MISS AMERICA

Wisconsin can claim another title - Miss America.

Laura Kaeppeler of Kenosha, Miss Wisconsin, was crowned Miss America 2012.



Since the pageant began in 1921, Kaeppeler is only the second woman from Wisconsin to become Miss America. Terry Anne Meeuwsen won in 1973.



From USA Today:

So many pretty girls, sparkly clothes, pearly-white smiles and amazing bikini bods.

ABC hosts Chris Harrison (The Bachelor) and Brooke Burke-Charvet (Dancing With the Stars) kept the Miss America Pagent 2012 rolling Saturday night, live from Las Vegas.

After all the sashaying, posing and displaying of talent, Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler was crowned the new 2012 Miss America. (A tiara for a cheesehead!) There she is ...

"A tiara for a cheesehead"?

I suppose that was inevitable.

From WISN:

A 23-year-old beauty queen from Kenosha won the Miss America pageant Saturday in Las Vegas after singing opera and strutting in a white bikini and black beaded evening gown.

Laura Kaeppeler 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," she said. "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."

Good answer.

Thank God she didn't raise her fist and yell "Recall Walker" or "FOX lies."

Kaeppeler wins a $50,000 scholarship and gets the title for one year. Her platform during the competition was supporting and mentoring children of incarcerated parents - a topic close to her heart.

Kaeppeler's father, Jeff Kaeppeler, told The Associated Press he served 18 months in federal prison for mail fraud.

He said when his daughter approached the family about making the personal topic her chosen platform, they supported it even though they knew it would be discussed publicly.

"We've seen this come full circle," he said.

Jeff Kaeppeler said his daughter's win on Saturday night was the best day of his life. He attended the event in a black tuxedo with a baby blue vest and bow tie.

"It taught us that God can turn everything into good if you let him," he said.

Kaeppeler majored in music and vocal performance at Carthage College, a private Lutheran liberal arts college in Kenosha. She told pageant officials she planned to obtain a master's degree in speech and language pathology and become a speech therapist.

Kaeppeler was crowned the new Miss America by a panel of seven judges during a live telecast on ABC.

Watch VIDEO of Miss America, from WISN.

From Kenosha News:

Miss Wisconsin Laura Kaeppeler of Kenosha stood holding hands with Miss Oklahoma, each staring into the others’ eyes as they awaited the judges’ decision and the announcement that would change their lives forever.

When host Christopher Harrison announced Kaeppeler’s name, tears of joy flowed, her mascara ran and the reigning Miss America 2011, Teresa Michelle Scanlan of Gering, Neb, placed the crown atop Kaeppeler’s head.

Kenosha is now home to Miss America.

Minutes before she was crowed, Kaeppeler answered a question about whether pageant representatives should be involved in partisan politics. Her answer was a diplomatic one saying that Miss America represents everyone.

...Kaeppeler, 23, a graduate of St. Joseph High School and Carthage College, took to the stage at a various levels of competition wearing a white bikini in swimsuit and a black beaded evening gown she likened to the Duchess of York Kate Middleton’s wedding dress.

...Kaeppeler’s platform was unique, as she advocated as a mentor for children of incarcerated parents.

Kaeppeler, who graduated with a degree in music with emphasis on vocal performance from Carthage, had originally chosen a music-oriented platform. But she changed her platform knowing that she could make a difference another way.

“I have personal experience with this,” she told a group of retired educators last summer. “One of the things these kids feel is they’re very much alone.”

When she was still in high school, her father was sentenced to a year in federal prison for a white-collar crime. In Wisconsin, more than 40,000 men and women are serving time in prison, she said.

“A lot of times teachers don’t know because the kids don’t want to talk about it themselves,” she said.

...The new Miss America will spend the next year touring the country to speak to different groups and raising money for the Children’s Miracle Network, the Miss America Organization’s official charity.

I'm so sorry I missed the pageant. It would have been fun to cheer on Miss Wisconsin, instead of watching the Patriots pommel the Broncos.

Congratulations, Laura!

What a great accomplishment!
________________

Watch the Miss America post-pageant press conference:



Miss America Laura Kaeppeler discusses her faith: