Madison Marsh, from Colorado, is the new Miss America

Madison Marsh, representative of Colorado, is the new Miss America. At 22 years of age, she became the first active Air Force officer and graduate of a military service academy to win the national crown.

The contest took place this Sunday at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts in Orlando, Florida. Forty nine candidates competed in the 96th edition of the pageant to become the winner of Miss America, founded in 1921.

Miss America, a platform to help

For Madison Marsh, the Army is an open space to lead in different ways. For this reason, she explained, she decided to participate in the contest to exemplify it, and because she believes that it can be a platform to help other people. "I felt like pageants, and specifically winning Miss Colorado, was a way to truly exemplify that and to set the tone to help make other people feel more comfortable finding what means most to them," Marsh said in a statement reported by the New York Post.

Marsh's triumph comes shortly after graduating from the United States Air Force Academy. But Marsh has also promoted a social project to support pancreatic cancer patients. After the death of her mother from the disease, the young woman created the Whitney Marsh Foundation, which has raised more than $250,000 for research.

"Madison is currently a graduate intern with Harvard Medical School utilizing artificial intelligence to detect pancreatic cancer. She is now pursuing her Master's in Public Policy at the Harvard Kennedy School with her national Truman Scholarship. In her free time, Madison enjoys flying planes, cooking pasta, and reading" her biography explained.