Lauren Paige Nelson (born November 26, 1986) is a beauty queen from Lawton, Oklahoma who holds the Miss America 2007 title. Nelson is the second consecutive Miss America and sixth in the history of Miss America to hail from this state.

Early life and education

Nelson attended MacArthur High School and later graduated from

University of Central Oklahoma The University of Central Oklahoma (UCO or Central State) is a public university in Edmond, Oklahoma. It is the third largest university in Oklahoma, with more than 17,000 students and approximately 434 full-time and 400 adjunct faculty. Founde ...

with a degree in public relations.

Pageantry

Miss Teen Oklahoma 2004

Nelson was Miss Teen Oklahoma 2004, and in this role, she performed at the 2005 Miss America pageant.

Miss Oklahoma 2006

She won the Miss Oklahoma State Fair local title and then competed in 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 ...

pageant for the first time on June 11, 2006. On the final night of competition, she was crowned Miss Oklahoma 2006, for which she received a $16,000 scholarship. At age nineteen, she was the youngest contestant to become Miss Oklahoma.

Miss America 2007

Nelson went on to represent Oklahoma in the

Miss America 2007 Miss America 2007, the 80th Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on Monday, January 29, 2007, making it the first time that the pageant was held on a weekday, rather than the traditional Saturday since 1927's ...

pageant that was broadcast on CMT from the

Theatre for the Performing Arts The Zappos Theater, originally known as Aladdin Theatre for the Performing Arts, is a mid-sized auditorium located at Planet Hollywood Las Vegas on the Las Vegas Strip. The venue hosts a variety of events, including charity benefits, concerts and ...

on January 29, 2007. She won a preliminary swimsuit award on Thursday night, becoming her state's first swimsuit preliminary award since 1955. Her talent was a vocal performance, and her platform was, "Be NetSmart – Protecting Kids Online". At the conclusion of the live telecast, Nelson was crowned Miss America 2007, beating first runner-up

Miss Texas The Miss Texas competition was founded in 1937 as a scholarship contest for young women. The winner represents Texas in the Miss America pageant; three winners have gone on to be crowned Miss America (but none since 1975). To become Miss Texa ...

2006, Shilah Phillips. She received a $50,000 scholarship award along with the title. She succeeded

Jennifer Berry Jennifer Berry-Gooden (born July 18, 1983) is an American beauty pageant titleholder who was crowned Miss America on January 21, 2006. A resident of Tulsa, Oklahoma, at the time of her investment to sovereignty of beauty, she became the fifth Mi ...

Jenks, Oklahoma Jenks is a city in Tulsa County, Oklahoma, United States, and a suburb of Tulsa, in the northeastern part of the state. It is situated between the Arkansas River and U.S. Route 75. Jenks is one of the fastest-growing cities in Oklahoma. The city' ...

, this being the second occurrence of consecutive state winners since Mississippi took the Miss America title in both 1959 and 1960.

Personal life

Nelson married Randy Faram, a student minister, on October 24, 2009. Nelson gave birth to a son, Mason, in October 2013 and a daughter, Dawson Paige, in March 2016.

Miscellaneous

Nelson teamed up with host John Walsh on the FOX television show America's Most Wanted to assist in the apprehension of potential child predators, posing as a teenager online. Initial reports on May 1, 2007, stated that she did not plan to return to testify against those predators that were apprehended, putting the prosecution's case in jeopardy. However, she appeared to change her mind later that day, and it was reported that she would testify against the perpetrators. On January 17, 2008, Nelson appeared on '' Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?'' playing for the Miss America Organization. She won $175,000 before "dropping out." On August 2, 2010, Nelson joined

KWTV KWTV-DT (channel 9) is a television station in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, United States, affiliated with CBS. It is the Flagship (broadcasting), flagship broadcast property of locally based Griffin Media, and is co-owned with MyNe ...

Oklahoma City Oklahoma City (), officially the City of Oklahoma City, and often shortened to OKC, is the capital and largest city of the U.S. state of Oklahoma. The county seat of Oklahoma County, it ranks 20th among United States cities in population, a ...

, a

CBS CBS Broadcasting Inc., commonly shortened to CBS, the abbreviation of its former legal name Columbia Broadcasting System, is an American commercial broadcast television and radio network serving as the flagship property of the CBS Entertainm ...

affiliate, as a co-anchor of the station's 4 P.M. newscast, which was reformatted from a traditional newscast to a lifestyle-oriented newscast.

References

External links

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News9's Lauren Nelson

website, offering a free child-safe web browser for children featuring Lauren Nelson {{DEFAULTSORT:Nelson, Lauren 1986 births Living people People from Lawton, Oklahoma Miss America winners Miss America 2007 delegates Methodists from Oklahoma University of Central Oklahoma alumni Miss America Preliminary Swimsuit winners Television anchors from Oklahoma City American women television journalists