Madison Marsh is a U.S. Air Force active-duty officer who won the Miss America title on Sunday, January 15th, 2024. “I’m very excited to get to represent women who can break stereotypes,” Marsh said. She is also looking forward to sharing “What it means to be a member of the military community and Miss America.”

Marsh represented Colorado, the home of the U.S. Air Force Academy. She graduated from the academy last year with a degree in physics. Now, she’s pursuing a master’s degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School. A few weeks before the pageant in December, Marsh spoke with fellow airmen stating she was, “…trying to make it a positive thing for the Air Force, for everyone.”

Since 2018, Marsh has been raising awareness and money for pancreatic cancer research through the foundation she founded with her father and sister in honor of her mother, who died from the disease. The Whitney Marsh Foundation has raised over a quarter-million dollars through events like 5k and 10k runs held in Marsh’s hometown of Fort Smith, Arkansas. “My mom was a huge runner, even when she was going through chemotherapy treatments,” Marsh stated.

Marsh was asked what advice she’d give other women, she said, “You can achieve anything. The sky is not the limit and the only person that’s stopping you is you.”

The U.S. Air Force celebrated Marsh’s win, sharing a Twitter post that featured photos of Marsh in uniform and winning the Miss America title. The Air Force captioned the photos with the hashtag #AimHigh.