Miss Wisconsin Paula Kuiper Heads to Miss America Friday

After Monday was officially declared Miss Paula Kuiper Day in Mount Pleasant and Racine County, Miss Wisconsin Paula Kuiper thanked supporters before she heads to Miss America.

But, she also talked about how her grandparents and family encouraged her to enter her first pageant to help her pay for her college education. Kuiper is a biology major, and she plans to go into medicine after she completes her undergrad at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

"At first, I thought, 'You are so crazy, I am not doing this,' but then I found out about the scholarship money and the non-profits the Miss America organization works with," she said. "Because of the scholarship money through Miss America, my entire undergraduate education is paid for."

Kuiper said she is particularly drawn to Miss America's support of STEM - science, technology, engineering and mathematics - because the perception that it's okay for girls to not be interested in those fields is unacceptable to her.

"My job as Miss Wisconsin is to go into classrooms and encourage young ladies to go into professional fields that still aren't accepted by some people," she said.

Miss American contestants are also asked to choose a platform, or cause, to support. For Kuiper, family was the inspiration for her creating Breaking the Age Barrier, a program that connects youth with older residents throughout the community by bringing youth into nursing homes and the elderly out into the community more. 

"It was my nana who inspired me," she said. "Her whole story is absolutely remarkable ... but her faith and her family is what got her through. And, that is something that I apply to my own life."

Kuiper heads to Atlantic City Friday for the Miss America pageant. If she wins, she would be the second Miss America from Wisconsin - and also from Southeast Wisconsin - to wear the crown in three years.