5 More Beauty Queens Who Also Love Science

The blogosphere let out a collective water-spit when the new Miss USA, Alyssa Campanella called herself… a science geek. This, this, is death of geek as we know it! Because girls only say they’re geeks to get attention, especially, especially if they’re pretty.

I knew Geek Culture had taken over, but I had no idea that it had gotten so bad.

Now Miss USA wants geek cred?

Maybe she doesn’t want geek cred, but she can-haz it if she wants, and she’s not the only one. Beautiful genuine geeks and serious science sirens not only exist, you can follow the jump for five more Miss USA contestants from the past two years, alone who’ve got some serious intellectual cred.

1. Erza Haliti, Miss Idaho 2011: Currently in her second year at Boise State University, Erza has been interested in science since the sixth grade. Now, majoring in psychology, with a heaping side helping of biology, she hopes to attend medical school and pursue a career as a pediatrician. And is she a geek? Well, Erza says:
   

   I usually describe myself as a nerd, but to me they mean the same thing. I love to read and learn, so with just that I could be classified as a “geek,” but if you guys knew some of my weird quirks and hobbies, oh boy… the real inner nerd in me would shine!

2. Chandra Burnham, Miss South Dakota 2011 : A graduate student studying Chiropractics at Northwestern Health Sciences University in Bloomington, Minnesota. She previously graduated with a degree in dietetics and nutrition from South Dakota State University
3. Bethany Gerber, Miss Kansas 2010 : This 21-year-old senior is majoring in Industrial Engineering at the University of Oklahoma. More specifically, Bethany is working towards B.S. in Industrial Engineering and hoping to obtain experience working with broadcasting companies.
4. Simone Feldman Miss Maryland 2010 : Simon recently graduated from the University of Maryland College Park with a B.S. degree in Biology, not to mention her additional focus on Community and Public Health.
5. Brittany Nicole Poteet, Miss Virginia 2011: “Nikki”, is a 23 year old student at Virginia Commonwealth University completing her Masters in Nuclear Engineering. Nikki will earn her Graduate Degree next month and looks forward to working in her chosen field as well as promoting the importance of science and mathematics to high school students. “I would like to combine my areas of education to begin researching natural forms of cancer treatment, such as dietary changes and the use of fruit seeds containing the enzyme Amygdalin.”

Even Cathy Lynn Grossman admits “There are more beautiful Darwin buffs than I first counted,” noting that there were actually five contestants in this year’s competition who were in favor of teaching evolution in schools (small victories, people, small victories). And just for reference, the brainy broads noted above didn’t even take that long to find. Granted, it would have been easier if Miss USA saw fit to write contestant bios with, *gasp*, words and not just a giant picture. (NBC and Trump, I’m looking glaring at you.)

So the next time the “she’s too pretty to be a geek” argument erupts, you should probably just let it lie. Nobody suggested that the Rock was co-opting geek culture for admitting that he loves D&D.

Megan Arellano also writes for Washington City Paper.

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Susana Polo

Susana Polo thought she'd get her Creative Writing degree from Oberlin, work a crap job, and fake it until she made it into comics. Instead she stumbled into a great job: founding and running this very website (she's Editor at Large now, very fancy). She's spoken at events like Geek Girl Con, New York Comic Con, and Comic Book City Con, wants to get a Batwoman tattoo and write a graphic novel, and one of her canine teeth is in backwards.

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