Teresa Scanlan – Miss America 2011, short biography

Teresa Scanlan

(February 6, 1993, Colton, California, USA)
Nationality: United States of America
Category: Celebrities
Occupation: Models
Unique distinction: Miss Southeast 2010, Miss Nebraska 2010 ( youngest Miss Nebraska ever), Miss America 2011 (the youngest Miss America since Bette Cooper in 1937).
Eye Color: Brown
Gender: Female
Video: Teresa Scanlan speaks
Website: Teresascanlan
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Achievements and contributions:

Social and professional position: American beauty pageant, model
The main contribution to (Best known for):  She is an American beauty pageant titleholder who was named Miss Southeast 2010, Miss Nebraska 2010 and won Miss America 2011.
Contributions:  Teresa Scanlan is an American beauty pageant titleholder who was named Miss Southeast 2010, and Miss Nebraska 2010, winning Miss America 2011 and Miss Nebraska World 2015.
She won the Miss America 2011 title at the age of 17 and became the youngest winner in the Miss America Pageant’s history (since Bette Cooper in 1937).
Her talent was playing the tune “Whitewater Chopped Sticks” on the piano, and her platform issue was “Eating Disorders: A Generation at Risk.”
In the final question, she was asked about the leaking of confidential government information by the website WikiLeaks.
Scanlan said: ”When it comes to the security of our nation, we have to focus on security first and then people’s right to know … We can’t let things like that happen, and they must be handled properly…”
Scanlan has earned a $50,000 scholarship and will attend Patrick Henry College in the fall.
As Miss America, Scanlan will take the next year to travel to the United States and raise awareness about eating disorders.
Scanlan was Nebraska’s representative in Miss World America 2015, where was named the 4th runner-up In the “Beauty with a Purpose” challenge, and was the winner of the “Judge’s Interview” challenge.
Major works: Winning Miss Nebraska 2010, Miss America 2011, Miss Nebraska World 2015

Career and personal life:

Origin: Teresa was born on February 6, 1993, in Colton, California, and then grew up in Gering, Nebraska. She is the daughter of Mark and Janie Scanlan and she is of Croatian heritage. Her maternal grandparents, Frank and Nives Jelich (Jelić), immigrated to the United States from Ilovik, Croatia Teresa come from a family of six kids.
Education: Teresa was homeschooled through her junior year of Gering high school. She graduated early from Scottsbluff High School in May of 2010. Attended Law School to become a Trial Attorney in Criminal Prosecution. In 2012, she enrolled as a student at Patrick Henry College.
Career highlights:  Teresa Scanlan has been competing in pageants since the age of 13 when she competed in the Scotts Bluff County pageant. Teresa was a contestant in the 2007 Nebraska Junior Miss pageant, where she was named first runner-up for Best Resume.
Then she won the Scotts Bluff County pageant in August 2009 at the age of 16.
In February 2010 she went on to win the title of Miss Southeast, which allowed her to compete in the Miss Nebraska pageant.
She was crowned Miss Nebraska 2010 on June 5,  when she received her crown from outgoing titleholder, Brittany Jeffers. At 17 years of age, she was the youngest Miss Nebraska ever crowned.
After winning the title of Miss Nebraska, Scanlan had deferred enrollment to Patrick Henry College in Purcellville, Virginia,  until the fall of 2011 so she could attend to her duties as Miss Nebraska.
Teresa became a partner with the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, or ANAD, and the National Eating Disorders Association, or NEDA.  As Miss Nebraska 2010, she worked to promote her platform, Eating Disorders: A Generation at Risk, which is a personal issue to her because of a close friend’s struggle with bulimia. Then Scanlan discovered how rampant it was across the nation.
Teresa won the Miss America title on January 15th 2011 which was held in Las Vegas, NV. This year marked the 90th pageant in the history of Miss America.
Scanlan was Nebraska’s representative in Miss World America 2015.
On August 1, 2016, she was one of the guest judges in the final Miss Earth United States 2016 pageant.

Personal life:  

As the middle child in the family, Teresa was homeschooled through her junior year of high school. “Because I was homeschooled, -Teresa later said – I didn’t see the pressures on girls in our public school system”. When she was  15 Teresa attended Gering High School part-time, and after that, she took double classes to graduate early from Scottsbluff High School in May of 2010. In 2012, she enrolled as a student at Patrick Henry College.
She plans on majoring in Government: American Politics and Policy and then attending Law School to become a Trial Attorney in Criminal Prosecution.
Hoping to become a judge and eventually become involved in the political arena, her highest career goals are to become President or a Supreme Court Justice.
“I was so shy when I was younger,” she said. “Pageantry has really helped me grow out of that… It has also made me work harder and become a well-rounded person.”
She hopes to help others regain confidence in themselves and challenge them to redefine beauty, based on inner qualities rather than outward appearance.
Scanlon is a fervent Christian and she wrote in her blog: “If I win the title of Miss America, I will know it is His will. If I do not win and continue the next six months as Miss Nebraska, I will know it is His will. How incredibly calming it is to know that my life is in His hands!”
On September 6, 2015, Scanlan married Connecticut automobile dealer, John Machado.   They are serving as ex officio for the Miss Connecticut Scholarship Organization within the Miss America program. In 2016, Scanlan and her husband had a son.
Zest: In her spare time, Teresa enjoys singing, acting, dancing, playing piano and guitar, composing songs, baking, and participating in activities with her local church. At 17, Scanlan is the youngest Miss America since the pageant’s first competition in 1921, which Margaret Gorman of the District of Columbia won at age 15 and a half.
In the summer of 2010, she began a journal in which she recorded not only the events of each day but also a passage of Scripture and her thoughts and prayers. She wrote in her blog:  “One of the reasons why my parents supported me is the rule: In order to compete in the Miss America system, you must be between the ages of 17 and 24… and you cannot be married.  They found that as their security I would not get married until I was at least 25. I guess I ruined that plan by winning at 17. Oops!”