Miss America encourages local students to pursue dreams

By Simone Jasper sjasper@mrt.com Published 10:22 pm, Sunday, November 12, 2017

Cara Mund, Miss America 2018, speaks 11/10/17 at Midland High School to area elementary students. Tim Fischer/Reporter-Telegram Photo: Tim Fischer/Midland Reporter-Telegram

Throughout her life, people set expectations for Cara Mund. So when she was told a woman from North Dakota could never win the Miss America title, she wanted to push past that limitation.
“A lot of people said that it wouldn’t happen and that I probably would go to Miss America and not make top 15,” she told the Reporter-Telegram before speaking to Midland ISD students on Friday. “I knew that I had qualities of what it took and that in the end, it didn’t matter where you came from.”
After years of competing in pageants, Mund was crowned Miss America 2018. She said becoming the first titleholder from her state held significance.
“That night when I won, I realized I had made history A, for North Dakota — but B, would hopefully inspire all the young girls that that were very similar to me and thought that their dream couldn’t come true because it never happened or because they came from a smaller county or a smaller city,” Mund said.
She told students on Friday about other times she overcame the expectations of others. When Mund was 14 years old, she started North Dakota’s Annual Make-A-Wish Fashion Show, which has raised more than $78,000 in 10 years. Also, after cool responses to her Ivy League ambitions, she graduated from Brown University.
The story inspired Adelyn Johnson, a Franks Elementary fourth-grade student who wants to become a professional volleyball player.
“I thought she worked hard and did her best to be Miss America,” she said.
Her schoolmate, Ryder White, said Mund encouraged him to look toward the future. He liked receiving insight into the life of the pageant winner.
“I thought it was a good event for people to see Miss America and for them to see what she’s been doing,” the fourth grader said.
Mund spoke in the Midland High School auditorium to students from DeZavala, Emerson, Franks, Henderson, Travis and Yarbrough elementary schools. The event came one day after Mund’s meet-and-greet session at the Midland County Public Library Centennial branch. The title winner said she valued the opportunity to speak locally.
“I came from a community very similar to Midland — very energy focused,” she said.
After achieving her pageant dreams, Mund still wants to accomplish more. She plans to use scholarship money from Miss America to pay for law school. Eventually, she hopes to become the governor of North Dakota.
“I realize with a title like Miss America or a title as governor, you serve as a voice for a lot of people that haven’t been heard,” she said. “That’s something that I definitely want to do.”

http://www.mrt.com/lifestyles/article/Miss-America-encourages-local-students-to-pursue-12352089.php