Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Opera-Singing Beauty Pageant Contestant Wins Miss America

Miss America 2012 Laura Kaeppeler of Kenosha, Wisconsin
Age: 23
Education: St. Joseph High School | Carthage College
Platform Issue: Circles of Support-Mentoring Children of Incarcerated Parents
Scholastic Honors: Dean's List; Outstanding Senior Music Major Award,; Music Department Honor's Recital Participant
Career Ambition: To become a Speech Pathologist
"A college professor described the Kenosha native who is now Miss America as humble and genuine. Laura Kaeppeler was crowned Miss America 2012 on Saturday night in Las Vegas. She attended Carthage College in Kenosha, where she majored in music and vocal performance. She sang opera during the competition, where her platform was supporting and mentoring children of incarcerated parents. Carthage assistant professor Gregory Berg accompanied Kaeppeler to recitals as a pianist and worked with her in 2010 as the music director of The Magic Flute, where she was the lead soprano. He said she never craved the spotlight or attention and it was a challenge to get her more comfortable being on the stage." Check out her Miss America performance of "Il Bacio" by Luigi Arditi during the talent portion of the competition after the jump. [SourceSource]