Miss District of Columbia, Kára McCullough, won the 2017 edition of the Miss USA contest, marking the second year in a row that Miss DC has won the decades-old event.
The event, which featured beauties from each state and the nation’s capital outfitted in dazzling dresses and swimsuits, came to an end on Sunday night during a two-hour finale at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center on the Las Vegas strip. She will be able to go on to compete in the Miss Universe contest.
The runner-up was Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg, a student at Rutgers University studying marketing and Spanish.
The second runner-up was Miss Minnesota Meridith Gould, who is studying apparel retail merchandising at the University of Minnesota.
The 65th crowned Miss USA is a 25-year-old chemist working for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission as a physical scientist. She graduated from South Carolina State University with a degree in chemistry and a concentration in radio chemistry.
She was born in Naples, Italy, and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She wants to inspire children to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.
While at school, she was a member of the Honors College, the American Chemical Society, the Health Physics Society, the American Association of Blacks in Engineering and the American Nuclear Society.
During the final round of the competition, each competitor was asked what they consider feminism to be, and whether or not they consider themselves feminists.
McCullough said she prefers not to use the word ‘feminist,’ and instead ‘transferred the word feminist to equalism.’
‘I don’t want to call myself a feminist,’ McCullough said. ‘Women, we are just as equal as men, especially in the workplace.’
In the questions portion, she was also individually asked if affordable healthcare is a right or privilege, responding that she thought that healthcare should only go to those with jobs.
She explained that, in her opinion, the country’s goals should be to create more jobs so that people can have healthcare.
Throughout the competition, McCollough received attention for wearing her hair natural and curly.
In an interview with Refinery 29, she was asked why she decided to go against the smooth blowout pageant trend, saying: ‘You answered it right there! With the paradigm shift of the competition, formerly a pageant, now a competition, we are highlighting aspects of a modern woman.’
They modeled their final look of the night during a performance of Pitbull’s ‘Options’ featuring Stephen Marley.
The beauty pageant this year included five women who immigrated to the U.S. at a young age and now as citizens hoped to represent the nation on a global stage.
Verg and the women representing Florida, North Dakota, Hawaii, Connecticut and New Jersey told The Associated Press this week they have faced challenges and opportunities as immigrants.
The contestants’ remarks stand in stark contrast to the scandal that enveloped the pageant in 2015, when then-part owner and now U.S. President Donald Trump offended Hispanics when he made anti-immigrant remarks in announcing his bid for the White House.
Trump co-owned The Miss Universe Organization with NBCUniversal, but the network and the Spanish-language broadcaster Univision quickly cut ties with him, refusing to air the show. Trump sued both networks, eventually settling and selling the pageant to talent management company WME/IMG.
The show kicked off with a performance from a Cirque du Soleil show – a Las Vegas staple – based on Michael Jackson songs. The contestants took the stage as Jackson’s ‘Black or White’ played and acrobats performed.
CMA Award-winner Brett Eldredge performed his new single ‘The Long Way’ as the women modeled their evening gowns.
Julianne Hough, Ashley Graham and Terrence J. hosted the show.
Source: Miss District of Columbia is crowned Miss USA 2017 | Daily Mail Online
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