Caroline McGowan (born February 25, 1991) is an American actress and

beauty pageant A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...

titleholder from

Corvallis, Oregon Corvallis ( ) is a city and the county seat of Benton County in central western Oregon, United States. It is the principal city of the Corvallis, Oregon Metropolitan Statistical Area, which encompasses all of Benton County. As of the 2020 United ...

, who was crowned

Miss Oregon The Miss Oregon competition is a regional scholarship competition and Beauty contest, beauty pageant that selects the representative for the US state of Oregon in the Miss America pageant. The annual event includes contestants from across the st ...

2011. She competed for the

Miss America 2012 Miss America 2012, the 85th Miss America pageant, was held at the Theatre for the Performing Arts of Planet Hollywood Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on Saturday, January 14, 2012. Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan fro ...

title but was not a Top 16 semi-finalist.

Pageant career

Miss Oregon 2011

In March 2011, McGowan was crowned Miss Linn-Benton County 2011. She entered the

pageant in late June 2011 as one of 22 qualifiers for the state title. McGowan's competition talent was a classic vocal performance of the aria "Chanson Boheme" from the opera ''

Carmen ''Carmen'' () is an opera in four acts by the French composer Georges Bizet. The libretto was written by Henri Meilhac and Ludovic Halévy, based on the Carmen (novella), novella of the same title by Prosper Mérimée. The opera was first perfo ...

''. Her platform was "Eating Disorder Awareness: Empowerment Through Attitude". McGowan won the competition on Saturday, July 2, 2011, when she received her crown from outgoing Miss Oregon titleholder Stephenie Steers. She earned more than $10,000 in scholarship money and other prizes from the state pageant. As Miss Oregon, her activities included public appearances across the state of Oregon.

Vying for Miss America

McGowan was Oregon's representative at the

pageant in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...

, in January 2012. She was not one of the 16 semi-finalists for the national crown and earned a $3,000 non-finalist scholarship prize.

Personal life and education

McGowan was born in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, and raised in suburban

Waukee, Iowa Waukee is a city in Dallas County, Iowa, United States. The population was 23,940 at the time of the 2020 U.S. Census. It is part of the Des Moines – West Des Moines Metropolitan Statistical Area. In 2017, Apple Inc. chose Waukee as the loc ...

. She is a 2009 graduate of

Waukee High School Waukee High School (also known as Waukee Senior High School) is a three-year public high school in Waukee, Iowa, United States. The school hosts grades 10–12. It is run by the Waukee Community School District. Freshmen attend one of two sep ...

. Her father is Dan McGowan and her mother is Kathy McGowan. From 2009 through 2011, McGowan was a student at

Oregon State University Oregon State University (OSU) is a public land-grant, research university in Corvallis, Oregon. OSU offers more than 200 undergraduate-degree programs along with a variety of graduate and doctoral degrees. It has the 10th largest engineering co ...

studying communications. After her year as Miss Oregon, McGowan transferred to

Portland State University Portland State University (PSU) is a public research university in Portland, Oregon. It was founded in 1946 as a post-secondary educational institution for World War II veterans. It evolved into a four-year college over the following two decades ...

where she studied philosophy.

References

External links

* *
Miss Oregon official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:McGowan, Caroline Living people 1991 births American beauty pageant winners Miss America 2012 delegates Miss Oregon winners Oregon State University alumni People from Corvallis, Oregon People from Waukee, Iowa Portland State University alumni