Alysa Goethe didn’t become the first Miss Iowa to win Miss America Sunday in Orlando, Fla.
But the smart, beautiful Bettendorf native won in many other ways.
“Meeting my Miss America inspiration was my winning moment,” Goethe, a 2018 Bettendorf High alum, posted on Facebook with a photo of her and Nicole Johnson, Miss America 1999. Like Alysa, Nicole was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes.
“The sweetest soul and fierce diabetes advocate. I am truly honored to have shared special moments with Nicole Johnson,” Goethe posted.
The newly crowned Miss America is the competition’s first active-duty Air Force officer.
Miss Colorado Madison Marsh was crowned Miss America during the Sunday night ceremony in Orlando. Marsh is a 2023 alum of the Air Force Academy with a degree in physics and a graduate student at the Harvard Kennedy School.
“It is the most surreal thing – I started competing when I was 10 years old, just for the opportunity sing for people,” Goethe said in a Miss America video on her experience this last week. “So 14 years later, finally fulfilling this dream – especially walking out of the interview room, I don’t think I could ever imagine anything better, so someone, pinch me.”
A 24-year-old Bettendorf High and Drake University alum, Goethe was crowned Miss Iowa 2023 this past June at the Adler Theatre in Davenport. For that crown (after her fourth attempt in the state competition), Alysa earned scholarships totaling $11,950.
The scholarships she’s earned as Miss Iowa have helped immensely, she said, noting she had to work three jobs during college.
“Miss America made it possible, and now I am not only an educator, but I graduated summa cum laude, the top of my class and I am forever indebted to this organization because of it,” Goethe said.
She plans to go to graduate school with some of the scholarship funds she earned through Miss America and get a degree in school counseling or music therapy.
Goethe said she’s learned that her circumstances do not dictate her future success.
“When I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 11 years old, it felt like my life was over,” she said. “I had never seen a Miss Iowa with diabetes. There had never been a Miss America with diabetes except the year I was born.
“So to be that representative for someone, showing that it is possible and you can prove yourself right — it is the greatest honor of my lifetime,” Goethe said.
“I may be the unexpected type of Miss America, but I’m the type America deserves,” she posted Jan. 7 from Orlando. “14 years in the making. I just interviewed for the promotion of my dreams!”
“I shared me; how I represent the impact of the Miss America Opportunity, Not Your Type, and my readiness with the esteemed judges. But more importantly, I left 14 years of dreaming, persevering, and working towards this moment in that room. No matter what comes next, I know I gave it my all.
“Thank you to all who helped me prepare not only for this singular moment, but throughout the entirety of my years,” Goethe wrote. “Little Alysa would be so proud as I shared her story today. This is for all of us.”
To learn more about Miss Iowa, click HERE.
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