Madison Marsh’s story is as inspiring as it is unconventional—from dreaming of space exploration to attending the United States Air Force Academy and Harvard to becoming the first active-duty military member named Miss America.
With a deep commitment to her passions and an unwavering dedication to service, Marsh is breaking barriers and crushing stereotypes at every turn.
Aiming High
"I had a dream to go to the Air Force Academy to become an astronaut," Marsh says, reflecting on the aspirations of her formative years.
Her path toward fulfilling this dream led her to civilian aviation, soloing at age 15, and helped pave the way for her enrollment at the prestigious Air Force Academy. The school's rigorous education and opportunities for flight training provided Marsh with the ideal platform to pursue her goals.
"It’s such a unique place that you can’t really put a lot of labels on it because of all the things you get to do," says Marsh, who graduated as a second lieutenant in 2023.
USAFA not only equipped her with a top-notch education in physics and engineering, but also honed her leadership skills through its immersive environment.
“They call it a leadership laboratory for a reason,” she says.
To young women (and men) considering military service, Marsh offers encouragement, highlighting the supportive community and “endless” opportunities the military provides. The Academy's emphasis on personal development helped propel Marsh toward remarkable achievements, including impressive scholarships and recognition as a Rhodes finalist.
She graduated with a degree in astrophysics last year, but during her time at the Academy, Marsh’s career dreams shifted.
A Different Mission
“For a long time, I kept saying I wanted to be an astronaut because it had become a part of my personality. ...," she says. "I thought if I stepped away from that, people might be disappointed, but it’s been the complete opposite experience from that.”
After her mom died of pancreatic cancer when Marsh was 17, she and her family launched the Whitney Marsh Foundation, which raises money for pancreatic cancer research. As she neared college graduation, Marsh realized that her heart was leading her toward a career that would further that mission, rather than space missions.
She earned a coveted Truman Scholarship, deferred her pilot training and is pursuing a master’s degree in public policy from the Harvard Kennedy School. One semester in, she's taking a year off for Miss America duties, and will return to Harvard in 2025.
“I’ve had the very special opportunity to study with people at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School for how they do early detection–how artificial intelligence intersects with pancreatic cancer. And now, we need to relay that into policy.”
Meanwhile, she will fulfill her required Air Force commitment in three ways: first, through a public affairs/recruiting role while serving as Miss America; second, through the Air Force Institute of Technology's Civilian Institution Programs for the remainder of her studies at Harvard; and third, through a more conventional role in the Air Force.
Scholarship + Leadership
At first glance, the Air Force and Miss America might seem worlds apart. Marsh, however, sees the shared values of education, leadership, service and camaraderie that underpin both institutions—as well as the common battle against unfair stereotypes.
“I would say they have a lot more in common than what meets the eye,” she says.
She points out that the Miss America Foundation is a major provider of women's scholarships, having personally received around $70,000 herself, and notes that this commitment to education mirrors the Air Force's focus on higher learning to foster leadership development.
No matter the domain, Marsh believes the best leaders possess two qualities: They are hardworking, and they care.
"Not everyone is going to be 100 percent at all times and if you can make your unit value on leaning on one another, I think you can be truly unbreakable."
Finding Your Passions
Marsh has a busier schedule than most, and recently got engaged on top of it all. She acknowledges that she has, at times, used "a giant calendar" to map out her days in 30-minute increments.
“There were definitely some times when people had told me to pick one thing. … If I had given up one any one of those passions, I wouldn’t have been authentically me,” she says.
In recent years, Marsh has learned that an important facet of time management is self-care.
“For the first year (at the Academy), I definitely did not prioritize that. … Once I started to slowly focus on, ‘OK. I need to make time for the gym. I need to make time to read a book every night and to unplug my phone,' that’s when I saw things really start to turn around."
Since then, she has worked tirelessly to better envision her life as she wants it to be.
“I really think that’s where you find your passions—not having the input of maybe what society wants you to be or what you think social media might want you to be,” she says. “And once you can find that, ... the only person that really gets to define what you’re going to do and define your love and your life is going to be you.”
Websites + Social Media
Madison Marsh: @madiisabellaa
US Air Force Academy: https://www.usafa.edu/ | Facebook: @USAFA.Official | Instagram: @af_academy
Miss America Opportunity: https://www.missamerica.org/ | @MissAmerica
Whitney Marsh Foundation: https://whitneysrace.org/
“They call it a leadership laboratory for a reason." -Madison Marsh, speaking about the United States Air Force Academy
“I would say they have a lot more in common than what meets the eye.” -Madison Marsh, regarding the similarities between the Air Force and the Miss America organization
