Miss New York Wins the 2015 Miss America Pageant

Miss New York Wins the 2015 Miss America Pageant – Kira Kazantsev

Miss New York Wins the 2015 Miss America Pageant – Kira Kazantsev, Miss New York, has been crowned Miss America after an outstanding performance of Pharrell‘s “Happy” while sitting crisscrossed on the stage (yeah, just like Anna Kendrick in Pitch Perfect).

The newly appointed Miss America states that her reason for choosing this performance was partly because she liked the movie, but also because she wanted to make it known to future Miss America Pageant participants that they could think outside the box for their performances as well.

The reason why I chose to do that talent is I wanted every single little girl in America to be able to see that you can do that talent — you can do whatever talent you want on national television — even with a red cup — and still be Miss America and have the time of your life. I literally in that minute and 30 seconds had the most fun I’ve ever had, and that’s because I stayed true to myself and I did what I wanted to do for my talent, no matter what everybody else told me, and it paid off. I’m very happy about it. – Kira Kazantsev, Miss America 2015

Miss Virginia, Courtney Paige Garrett, was the first runner up to Kira. Miss Arkansas Ashton Jo Campbell, Miss Florida Victoria Cowen, and Miss Massachusetts Lauren Kuhn, were the three after Miss Virginia.

As the winner of the 2015 Miss America Pageant, Kazantsev received a $50,000 scholarship which she plans on putting towards law school.

Kira’s winning topic was combating sexual assault within the United States military, a problem that has made many headlines throughout the last few years. She wants the female U.S. Senators to do their best in convincing the male Senators to take the issue seriously. Additionally, she wants to draw attention to domestic violence during her year as Miss America.