The USA has a new Miss America!Access Hollywood’s Kit Hoover and Mario Lopez brought down the house when they hosted the Miss America 2020 competition on Thursday. Kit looked absolutely stunning in a red gown that she wore in honor of women’s heart health, alongside a dapper Mario in a classic tux.
The two also had the honor of crowning Camille Schrier of Virginia as the winner!
Miss Virginia Camille beat out 51 other women for the title when she wowed the judges with a science experiment during the talent portion—a first in the pageant’s history! Camille graduated from Virginia Tech with a bachelor of science in biochemistry and systems biology, and her experiment combined chemicals to turn into a burst of brightly-colored foam with her on stage.
Camille, who is currently studying for her Doctorate of Pharmacy degree, noted the historic moment in an Instagram post after the talent portion of the show.
“I’m overwhelmed with gratitude this morning after winning the night #2 preliminary talent award at Miss America with my chemistry demonstration! This is particularly historic, as I’m the first woman ever to win a talent preliminary at Miss America with a science demonstration,” Camille wrote. She then took a moment to show why she deserved to be crowned Miss America—by lifting up young women.
“This win is not just for me…it’s for every person who is afraid to take a risk and be themselves, for the little girls who want to be scientists, and for every woman who thinks they can’t compete in Miss America because they don’t have a ‘talent.’ We all have talents.”
WATCH: Miss America Is Eliminating Its Swimsuit Competition
The 24-year-old combined her passion for science and penchant for female empowerment to create an initiative called “Mind Your Meds,” a group that educates people about drug safety and abuse prevention.
While Camille impressed the judges with her scientific knowledge, the other women on stage were all equally impressive—something Mario noted as he was preparing for his hosting gig.
“I think there’s a new element involving intellect somehow,” Mario noted on his “ON With Mario” Daily Podcast, referring to several changes the pageant has made in recent years. One such change included the removal of the swimsuit portion of the competition. “Which the girls are already intellects because you have to have, I believe, a 3.0 to just be in the competition.”
As part of her new title, Camille earned $50,000 in scholarship money and will help advance the goals of the Miss America Organization.
Congratulations to Miss America 2020 Camille Schrier!