Scientist Kára McCullough wins Miss USA 2017

It was a back-to-back victory for the District of Columbia in Miss USA!

Kára McCullough, a 25-year-old scientist working for the US Nuclear Regulatory Commission, was crowned on Sunday at the Mandalay Bay Convention Center in Las Vegas. She bested 50 other contestants for the chance to compete in the next edition of the Miss Universe pageant.

The 1st runner-up was Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg while the 2nd runner-up was Miss Minnesota Meridith Gould.

This marks DC’s second consecutive and fourth win in Miss USA. Last year, Deshauna Barber became the first-ever military member to win Miss USA.

McCullough was born in Naples, Italy, and raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She said she wants to inspire children to pursue careers in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

However, she ignited social media debate when she said affordable health care in America is a “privilege” during the first round of QA.

“I’m definitely going to say it’s a privilege,” McCullogh said. “As a government employee, I’m granted health care. And I see firsthand that for one, to have health care, you need to have jobs, so therefore we need to continue to cultivate this environment so that we’re given the opportunities to have health care as well as jobs for all Americans worldwide.”

The rest of the Top 5 finalists were Miss Illinois Whitney Wandland and Miss South Carolina Megan Gordon. The representatives of Alaska (Alyssa London), California (India Williams), Missouri (Bayleigh Dayton), New York (Hannah Lopa) and Tennessee (Allee-Sutton Hethcoat) completed the Top 10. Missosology.Org

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