University of Arizona graduate student Erin Nurss was crowned Miss Arizona on Saturday.
The third time was the charm for the University of Arizona graduate student who was crowned Miss Arizona on Saturday.
“I’m still on cloud nine,” said Erin Nurss, who was Miss Sierra Vista in 2006 and first runner-up in the Miss Arizona pageant in 2007.
“It is still sinking in,” Nurss said. “It’s been an incredible experience all around.”
She will represent Arizona at the Miss America Pageant in Las Vegas on Jan. 24.
Nurss, who is pursuing a master’s degree in public health, said she’ll take a year off from graduate school to perform her Miss Arizona duties, but she doesn’t mind because she intends to use her title to pursue her career.
Already a spokeswoman and volunteer for Arizona Nutrition Network, she hopes to work with the Arizona Department of Health Services and do outreach to promote healthy eating and daily activity.
She said that when her pageant days end, she will have funded her graduate school education through pageant scholarship programs.
Nurss grew up participating in a youth development and scholarship pageant, where she met Stacey Momeyer, Miss Arizona in 1997, who was third runner-up in the Miss America Pageant in 1998. She said that once she knew it was possible to go that far, she always wanted to follow in Momeyer’s footsteps.
“It started as the dream of a little girl who wanted to dance on the Miss America stage,” Nurss said.
She graduated in 2003 from Buena High School in Sierra Vista and in 2007 from UA with a degree in nutrition. She danced on the UA Pom Line for four years, serving two years as captain.
In competing for Miss Arizona, Nurss underwent the traditional beauty pageant gantlet, such as the swimsuit and evening wear competitions, the on-stage questions, and a 10 minute interview in which she was asked about politics, current events and her health and wellness platform.
Her family, especially her younger sister, has been very supportive of her pageant ambitions, she said.
“While I may be the one with a crown on my head – it is a team effort.”
Nurss will film a reality series in September for TLC called “Miss America: Reality Check” with the other contestants. She said the show will be a chance for the country to get to know them before they see them on stage in the pageant. She said the show will consist of pageant preparations such as learning to walk the red carpet as well as fun things such as team challenges.
The reality show will be a fine line between checking out the competition and hoping to foster lifelong friendships with the other women, she said.
Nicole Turner, Miss Arizona 2007, crowns UA graduate student Erin Nurss Miss Arizona 2008.