New Miss USA

Miss Nebraska Crowned Miss USA

Commentator likened contest to Sophie's Choice

By Newser Editors and Wire Services

In this photo provided by The Miss Universe Organization, Sarah Rose Summers, Miss Nebraska USA 2018, is crowned Miss USA and congratulated by fellow contestants at the conclusion of the event, Monday, May 21, 2018, in Shreveport, La.   (Brittany Elizabeth Strickland/The Miss Universe Organization via AP)

Sarah Rose Summers from Nebraska has beaten 50 other women to win the crown at this year's Miss USA competition. Summers, a 23-year-old from Omaha, graduated from Texas Christian University with two degrees and is working on becoming a certified child life specialist.



With Monday evening's victory, she takes over from nuclear scientist Kara McCullough, who won the competition last year when it was held in Las Vegas. The final three contestants—Summers, Caelynn Miller-Keyes of North Carolina, and Carolina Urrea of Nevada—were asked what they would write on a blank sign on the way to a hypothetical march, the AP reports. Miller-Keyes was 1st runner-up and Urrea the 2nd runner-up.

Summers said she would encourage people to "speak your voice" with her sign. Urrea vowed to work to eliminate homelessness. Miller-Keyes spoke about sexual assault prevention, saying she would march for "your body, your rights." The evening also touched on one of the year's biggest themes—the #MeToo movement. In a video montage, the contestants talked about particular #MeToo moments they had experienced and women's empowerment. The New York Daily News reports that a jarring moment came when commentator Carson Kressley likened choosing from the final 15 to Holocaust novel Sophie's Choice, in which a mother is forced to choose which of her children goes to the gas chamber. Lu Sierra, the former Queer Eye star's fellow commentator, quickly moved things on from the remark.