(Web Desk) - Miss America 2024 Madison Marsh is not only a second lieutenant in the U.S. Air Force — she's also getting her master's degree at the Harvard Kennedy School.
It’s not easy being in pageantry and in uniform, but U.S. Air Force officer Madison Marsh — who's also 2024's Miss America — is out to change that.
“We’ve had this preconceived notion in the past that you might be judged and not be taken seriously as a leader,” Marsh, a 22-year-old second lieutenant and the first active-duty Air Force officer to win the title, tells PEOPLE exclusively.
“This just proves that you can be feminine while leaning into your leadership role," she adds.
Marsh grew up in Ft. Smith, Arkansas with four siblings, a physician dad, and a mom who worked as a Court Appointed Special Advocate (CASA).
Her dreams of becoming a marine biologist were sidelined when she attended space camp, which inspired her passion for flying, and in 2019, she entered the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.
Right after graduation, the high achiever continued to pursue her education as a graduate intern at Harvard Medical School, where she is studying ways to utilize artificial intelligence to detect pancreatic cancer and pursuing her master’s degree in public policy at the Harvard Kennedy School through her 2022 National Truman Scholarship.
“None of it would have happened if I didn’t join the Air Force,” Marsh says.
In 2018, Marsh faced her biggest challenge when her mom Whitney died of pancreatic cancer just nine months after being diagnosed.
“The big part about my mom that I really love was just her passion for service," says Marsh. "She was a CASA worker in town for children in foster care.”
Marsh’s mom would typically be assigned to work with a few foster children at a time, assisting in everything from getting birthday gifts to handling court appearances.
“My mom really cared about giving back to communities and people,” Marsh says.
“And that’s what made my childhood so special because my mom wanted to make sure we had a loving environment and wanted to give that to other kids as well.”
Less than two weeks after her mom's death, Marsh got an idea that led to the founding of The Whitney Marsh Foundation, which raises money for pancreatic cancer research, awareness, early detection, and patient care.
One day, her brothers forced her to leave the house and go to the gym as a healthy distraction. “My mom was like a crazy, crazy athlete and would run 10 miles a day, then bike and swim,” she says.
While she was there, Marsh realized she needed to do something to honor her mother and decided to hold a yearly race, which has raised close to $300,000 since the foundation was founded..
“One of my big focuses this year is Miss America is really going to be looking at international policy for pancreatic cancer,” she says.