Army 2nd Lt. Alma Cooper was named Miss USA on Aug. 4, 2024, in Los Angeles. The 22-year-old from Michigan is a graduate of the U.S. Military Academy who is now in graduate school at Stanford University. (Miss USA/Facebook)
Officers in the American armed forces are taking the beauty pageant world by storm this year.
Alma Cooper, an Army 2nd lieutenant and U.S. Military Academy graduate, was crowned Miss USA on Sunday, beating 50 other contestants in the two-hour, nationally televised competition, which featured swimwear, evening gowns and on-the-spot interviews.
In April, Cooper became the first active-duty Army officer to compete in and win the Miss Michigan USA competition, according to West Point.
Her title comes on the heels of a January victory in the Miss America pageant by Air Force 2nd Lt. Madison Marsh, who is the first active-duty officer to win that crown.
Alma Cooper of Michigan, was named Miss USA on Aug. 4, 2024. The 22-year-old second lieutenant and recent graduate of West Point is pursuing a masters degree at Stanford. (West Point AOG/X)
Cooper, 22, graduated with honors in 2023 and majored in math. She’s now working on a master’s degree in statistics at Stanford University as a Knight-Hennessy scholar.
The scholarship program awards high-achieving students full funding to pursue any graduate degree at the university.
In Sunday’s pageant, Cooper was one of five finalists remaining for the interview portion of the competition. Each contestant was asked: “How can we bridge the gap between different cultures and foster understanding and respect?”
Cooper highlighted her ethnicity, saying she’s a “proud Afro Latina woman,” and humble beginnings as the daughter of a migrant worker.
“I am living the American dream,” she told the judges. “If there’s anything that my life and my mother have taught me, it’s that your circumstances never define your destiny. You can make success accessible through demanding excellence.”
Cooper will compete in the Miss Universe contest in Mexico later this year.
The first member of the military to win the Miss USA crown was then-1st Lt. Deshauna Barber, an Army reservist who won in 2016, according to the service.
