FIRST BARBENHEIMER, THEN TOP GUN.

Last year, Miss America was Wisconsin nuclear engineering student Grace Stanke.  The pageant, which used to take place the weekend after Labor Day in Atlantic City, now takes place in the shadow of the college and professional football tournaments.

The nuclear engineer passed the tiara and the social cause to an aspiring aviator studying government at Harvard.

Madison Marsh, a 22-year-old second lieutenant in the US Air Force and master’s student at the Harvard Kennedy School’s public policy program, emerged victorious at the 2024 Miss America pageant in Orlando, Florida on Sunday night. Marsh, representing the state of Colorado, is the first active-duty Air Force officer ever to receive the national title.

Ellie Breaux of Texas placed as first-runner-up.

It's not the Atlantic City event any more, not in timing, not in location, not in format.

The pageant followed three nights of preliminary competitions. At the beginning of the main event, the field was narrowed to 11 semi-finalists — 10 chosen by the preliminary judges, and one by a public vote open to pageant fans and followers across the United States.

These 11 women then participated in four rounds of competition — a fitness showcase (a runway walk in rhinestone-embellished athleisure); a “hot topics” discussion round, which replaced the pageant’s more traditional Q&A with a disparate set of talking points; a talent performance; and an evening gown presentation — before the five finalists were announced. Marsh and Breaux, who were followed in the final rankings by second-, third- and fourth-runners-up, Cydney Bridges of Indiana, Mallory Hudson of Kentucky and Caroline Parente of Rhode Island, respectively.

In the somewhat disparate discussion round, which broached topics including terrorism, technology, nutrition and climate change, Marsh responded to the topic of “drugs in America” by recalling her late mother’s battle with pancreatic cancer. In the talent round, she presented a spoken-word piece centered on receiving a pilot’s license at 16.

Inside the Beltway's James Joyner, himself a commissioned officer, notes the potential broadening of the military's appeal.

It’s a remarkable story in so many ways. Balancing the competing demands of these pageants and the life of a USAFA cadet must have been extraordinarily challenging. And she obviously excelled, not only winning the Miss Academy, Miss Colorado, and Miss America pageants but graduating high enough academically to be selected for pilot training and to gain admission to HKS. And all the while she’s been running a nonprofit?

Presumably, the Air Force is giving her some unusual accommodations to allow her to pursue her master’s degree before going to flight school. And she’ll have some significant obligations as Miss America. But we’ve allowed academy graduates to defer service to play professional sports, for example, so it’s possible. She’s a great recruiting poster for the Academy and the service.

I'm not sure when that deferred service to play professional sports began. It was after Roger Staubach won the Heisman Trophy and then went to sea before he went to the Dallas Cowboys.  Was he the last Dallas Cowboys quarterback to hoist the Lombardi Trophy?

Perhaps, though, I'm overthinking things.  Let Hot Air's Karen Townsend offer closing remarks.  "Pageants have had problems in recent years as they seek to modernize. The Miss America pageant has revamped its format to focus on achievement over beauty. This young woman sounds deserving of the title."  Let's see how the people who would like more students taking up science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and the performing arts follow up on this new pageant path for the young ladies.