A hometown crowd was cheering Berkeley County native and Miss West Virginia Elizabeth Lynch Thursday night as she took third runner-up in the Miss America pageant in Connecticut.
Lynch earned a $15,000 scholarship. She is a recent graduate from West Virginia University with a Master of Science in food and nutritional science. Her social impact initiative “Growing Up, Growing Ag: Advocating for Appalachian Agriculture” became a platform to showcase farmers and others in the ag industry.
As part of her Miss West Virginia duties, Lynch will travel the state and meet with young students.
“My goal is to not be a celebrity through this organization. I don’t want young women and little girls to look at me and think, “Wow, I want to be just like her,’ It’s ‘Wow, she’s just like me. She’s calm. She collected. She’s a little goofy. She’s a little silly and that’s just how I am. If she can be Miss West Virginia then I can be too,’” Lynch said.
Lynch said her monologue was based on not putting yourself in a little box.
“You’re so much more than just one thing. You’re not just a woman. You’re not just a student. You have so many things that really build you up to the person that you are today. So don’t allow people to call you one thing because you’re so much more than that,” Lynch said.
Upon completion of her year of service as Miss West Virginia, she will start her PhD with a focus on animal science.
Miss Wisconsin was crowned Miss America Thursday night. Grace Stanke, 20, is studying nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin.
