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Jennifer Berry-Gooden (born July 18, 1983) is an American
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 who was crowned
Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 17 and 25. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is now judged on competitors' talent performances and interviews. As ...
on January 21, 2006. A resident of
Tulsa, Oklahoma Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region wit ...
, at the time of her investment to sovereignty of
beauty Beauty is commonly described as a feature of objects that makes these objects pleasurable to perceive. Such objects include landscapes, sunsets, humans and works of art. Beauty, together with art and taste, is the main subject of aesthetics, o ...
, she became the fifth Miss America from Oklahoma to have held the title.


Early life and education

Berry was born in
Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 ...
. She graduated from Jenks High School in 2001, and attended the
University of Oklahoma , mottoeng = "For the benefit of the Citizen and the State" , type = Public research university , established = , academic_affiliations = , endowment = $2.7billion (2021) , p ...
with a major in
elementary education Primary education or elementary education is typically the first stage of formal education, coming after preschool/kindergarten and before secondary school. Primary education takes place in ''primary schools'', ''elementary schools'', or fir ...
. She expressed hopes to attain a Master's in education and become an elementary school teacher after her reign as Miss America.


Pageants


Miss Oklahoma 2005

She won the
Miss Oklahoma The Miss Oklahoma competition selects a winner to compete on behalf of Oklahoma in the Miss America pageant. Miss Oklahoma has won the Miss America crown on five occasions. Also, in the years when city representatives were common, Norma Smallw ...
2005 title in a state pageant held
Tulsa Tulsa () is the second-largest city in the state of Oklahoma and 47th-most populous city in the United States. The population was 413,066 as of the 2020 census. It is the principal municipality of the Tulsa Metropolitan Area, a region with ...
on June 11, 2005. She competed as Miss Grand Lake and was a double preliminary winner, winning awards for both talent and swimsuit. This was Berry's fifth attempt at the state title, as she placed third runner-up in 2004 and 2003, made the top 10 in 2002 and was unplaced in 2001.


Miss America 2006

Berry represented
Oklahoma Oklahoma (; Choctaw: ; chr, ᎣᎧᎳᎰᎹ, ''Okalahoma'' ) is a state in the South Central region of the United States, bordered by Texas on the south and west, Kansas on the north, Missouri on the northeast, Arkansas on the east, New ...
in the
Miss America 2006 Miss America 2006, the 79th Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on Saturday, January 21, 2006. The pageant was broadcast live on CMT from the Theatre for the Performing Arts at the Aladdin Resort and Casi ...
pageant broadcast from the Theatre for the Performing Arts on the
Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city ...
during January 21, 2006, the first occasion the pageant was held outside of
Atlantic City, New Jersey Atlantic City, often known by its initials A.C., is a coastal resort city in Atlantic County, New Jersey, United States. The city is known for its casinos, boardwalk, and beaches. In 2020, the city had a population of 38,497.
. During the preliminary competitions Berry won a preliminary talent award for her
ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...
en pointe Pointe technique ( ) is the part of classical ballet technique that concerns ''pointe work'', in which a ballet dancer supports all body weight on the tips of fully extended feet within pointe shoes. A dancer is said to be ''en pointe'' () whe ...
performance. At the end of the final night of competition, which involved interview, swimsuit, evening gown and talent competitions, Berry won the Miss America 2006 title, the first titleholder to be crowned outside Atlantic City. Her platform issue as Miss Oklahoma and Miss America was "Building Intolerance to Drunk Driving and Underage Drinking." She acted as a national spokesperson for
Mothers Against Drunk Driving Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) is a non-profit organization in the United States, Canada and Brazil that seeks to stop drunk driving, support those affected by drunk driving, prevent underage drinking, and strive for stricter impaired driv ...
during her reign, and also worked on behalf of numerous other charities. Berry also had the opportunity to host the second annual Miss America's Outstanding Teen pageant held in
Orlando, Florida Orlando () is a city in the U.S. state of Florida and is the county seat of Orange County. In Central Florida, it is the center of the Orlando metropolitan area, which had a population of 2,509,831, according to U.S. Census Bureau figures r ...
.


Personal life

She is a member of the
Churches of Christ The Churches of Christ is a loose association of autonomous Christian congregations based on the ''sola scriptura'' doctrine. Their practices are based on Bible texts and draw on the early Christian church as described in the New Testament. Th ...
. She currently lives in
Seattle, Washington Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region ...
. On April 28, 2007, she married Nathan Gooden in her hometown of Tulsa.Robin Leach
"Jennifer Berry -- Her Final Interview as Miss America"
on VegasPop, 2007 January 29.


References


External links


Miss America 2006


1983 births Living people American members of the Churches of Christ Miss America winners Miss America 2006 delegates People from Houston People from Tulsa, Oklahoma University of Oklahoma alumni Miss America Preliminary Talent winners {{US-pageant-bio-stub