Alma Cooper, the 22-year-old from Michigan who competed this weekend in the Miss Universe competition, fell short of an international title that would allow her to add most beautiful woman in the world to her accomplishments.
Some pageant prognosticators had her favored to win.
By late Saturday night at the CDMX Arena Mexico City, where 125 contestants competed, Sheynnis Palacios of Nicaragua — the first contestant from her country to ever win in 2023 — crowned Denmark’s Victoria Theilvig the new queen.
Miss Denmark, Victoria Kjær Theilvig, is crowned as Miss Universe 2024 in The 73rd Miss Universe Competition show at Arena Ciudad de Mexico on November 16, 2024 in Mexico City, Mexico.
Nigeria’s Chidimma Adetshina finished as first runner-up, followed by Mexico’s Maria Beltran, Thailand’s Suchata Chuangsri, and Venezuela’s Marquez Pedroza, a 28-year-old mother.
But Cooper was briefly featured during the international broadcast and is still Miss USA.
Cooper made it through the rigors of West Point and prestigious pageants and now must navigate how she will lead troops and reign in a nation still sorting out beliefs about what roles women should hold in the military.
During a roundtable discussion Saturday with other contestants, Cooper — who was wearing a blue suit with a butterfly pin — talked about her mother, and the advice she gave her: That the only limits she truly faces are the ones she accepts.
Cooper has defied stereotypes about what women should, or should not, be as the the first active-duty soldier to be crowned Miss USA, showing how she is less G.I. Jane and more Helen of Troy.
And throughout the Miss Universe pageant, the second lieutenant had a special group in her virtual cheering section, high-ranking Army officers who see Cooper’s pageant victories as an opportunity to recast the military’s image and help it recruit.
“We wish her all the best as she competes,” West Point said on social media when she won Miss USA earlier this year, touting Cooper’s “dedication to character, both in and out of uniform.”
On the final day of the Miss Universe competition, the Army wished her luck.
It also published a report about her, “Dedication, pursuit of excellence propels Army officer to Miss USA crown,” that showed just how committed she is. It said, for example, that at West Point she failed a survival swim test, but practiced until she mastered it.
The article connected the test to pageant competition as a measure of Cooper’s character: “She used her steadfast determination to overcome another obstacle in her pursuit of excellence, something she has been doing since she was a little girl.”
Do pageants help or hurt?
Pageants have long been lightning rods for criticism, drawing the ire of feminists who argue that they promote unrealistic beauty standards and outdated and limiting ideas about the roles of women.
Cooper also has faced criticism and, now, potentially, a new defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, who has expressed disapproval of women in combat, claiming that it has lowered the Army’s physical standards.
Hegseth also, news outlets reported, was the subject of a sexual assault complaint in 2017.
Some also have questioned whether pageants — especially those like Miss USA that still feature swimsuit competitions — are the best way promote the idea of more women in leadership positions or to burnish leadership credentials.
Hilary Friedman — who grew up in Detroit, has been a sociology professor at Brown University and wrote a book, “Here She Is, the Complicated Reign of the Beauty Pageant in America” — pointed to positive and negative influences pageants have had on women.
Michigan’s Alma Cooper was crowned Miss USA 2024 at the annual pageant.
The former professor suggests the contests can promote unrealistic expectations but also have helped women become leaders. The internet is full of lists of famous women — and even a few men — who have benefitted from pageants.
Billionaire television show host Oprah Winfrey participated in pageants.
Joe Biden’s Energy Secretary, Michigan’s former Gov. Jennifer Granholm, did too.
Women in leadership positions
And, historically, opportunities for women in many jobs have been limited.
Women weren’t allowed to attend West Point until 1976, the nation’s bicentennial. America elected its first female vice president just four years ago, and no woman has ever been elected commander-in-chief.
The latest edition of the West Point Association of Graduates magazine, which shows, in part, how woman are influencing the Army, put Cooper on the cover. In the photo, she is in uniform, and smiling, a departure from the usual military image.
Inside, the publication notes that that Cooper, a military intelligence officer was in the “top five percent” of her class, and a Knight-Hennessy Scholar pursuing a master’s degree at Stanford University.
The magazine also mentions how the math science major, who describes herself as a nerd, focused research on the Army’s “recruiting crisis,” including a look at body-mass standards, which is relevant to the armed forces and beauty pageants.
Still, how much Cooper’s pageant experiences, which included crossing a stage in a bikini, will help — or hinder — her time in the Army and, when she potentially decides to leave it for a second career, are unclear.
‘I live the American Dream’
Cooper, who was selected as Miss USA, explained in her own words how she followed in the footsteps of both her parents, her father, and Army major, and her mother, who also competed in pageants.
By one account, she started applying for pageants when she was 8, a way “to build confidence and learn public speaking.” Later, she refined her skills by entered the Miss Michigan Teen USA pageant.
To get to Miss Universe, Cooper had to win Miss Michigan and Miss USA.
“As a lifelong Michigander raised in Okemos, I live the American Dream,” Cooper told the Free Press after she won Miss USA, adding that she is grateful to many, especially God, her family and supporters, and is “honored to serve this state and this country.”
Yet, she also has faced criticism from people who don’t approve and want to know how pageants fit into her role as a soldier or whether it’s fair to others in the Army.
The counter argument is male West Point football players who graduate have long gotten special treatment to play professional sports, which, arguably can promote views about male masculinity and has little to do with their service as soldiers.
Cooper also has talked about being Afro-Latina.
The first African American to win Miss USA was also from Michigan.
Carole Gist, a Detroit native and Cass Tech graduate, won in 1990, and went on to become the first runner-up that year in the Miss Universe pageant. Gist is now a wellness coordinator at Wayne State University’s Mort Harris Recreation and Fitness Center.
What about the scandals?
But Cooper also has become Miss USA at a time when the pageant organization is trying to rebound from scandals, including allegations of a “toxic work environment” by the former Miss USA Noela Voigt, who created a stir by quitting.
Voigt’s resignation letter, which was leaked to the news, raised some of the latest concerns about a pageant organization dogged by controversy over the years, including sexual harassment and contest rigging. Voigt said, in her letter, she was in treatment for anxiety.
R’Bonney Gabriel of Texas, the most recent American to win Miss Universe, faced controversy in 2022 that the contest was rigged. She was the ninth American to win, as well as a model and fashion designer with a Filipino father and American mother.
Moreover, Hegseth and other potential appointees such as Mike Huckabee, have openly criticized the Army’s so-called “woke generals” and efforts to promote racial diversity and inclusion.
And the various pageant controversies potentially create another challenge — and ethical question — for Cooper: What responsibility, if any, does she have to address the issues raised over the years and protect future contestants?
Still, fans of Cooper like Rebecca Ufford, who traveled from Michigan to Mexico City to witness the pageant, are still beaming with pride for the success of one of Michigan’s daughters.
Ufford, whose son is a West Point graduate, offered her own take on Cooper’s pageant participation. It represents, Ufford said, the talent and discipline that the military academy promotes and lets “the world see what kind of women the Army is developing.”
Contact Frank Witsil: 313-222-5022 or fwitsil@freepress.com.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Denmark’s Theilvig wins Miss Universe as USA’s Alma Cooper falls short
