Grace Marie Stanke (born April 30, 2002) is an American pageant titleholder who was crowned
Miss America 2023 on December 15, 2022.[1] A native of
Wausau, Wisconsin, she is the third
Miss Wisconsin to win the national title.[2] She is a nuclear engineer and national advocate for nuclear power.[3]
Stanke started competing in the Miss America system again after she turned 18 to earn scholarship money.[6] She competed at
Miss Wisconsin 2021 as Miss Madison, where she was a semi-finalist.[4][7] Stanke was crowned
Miss Wisconsin 2022 on June 18, 2022 while representing Badgerland, becoming the first woman to hold both state Miss and Teen titles.[8] In addition to the title, Stanke won Preliminary Talent and $12,500 in scholarships.[9][10]
She studied nuclear engineering at University of Wisconsin–Madison.[11]
Miss America 2023
On December 15, 2022, Stanke won the title of Miss America 2023 and a $50,000 scholarship.[12][13] During the competition, Stanke received a preliminary talent award and a $2,500 scholarship for her classical violin performance of "Summer: III. Presto" from the Four Seasons by
Vivaldi.[14] She spent her year as Miss America raising awareness about nuclear power and zero-carbon energy sources.[15] During her reign, Stanke visited nuclear power plants across the United States[16] including the
Vogtle Electric Generating Plant in
Georgia,[17] the
Palo Verde Nuclear Generating Station in western
Arizona,[18] and
Hanford Site in
Washington,[19][20] and
Energy Northwest in Washington.[3] She also spoke about the benefits of nuclear power at the Dairyland Power Cooperative 2023 annual meeting in
La Crosse, Wisconsin[21] and at the
American Nuclear Society's 2023 annual conference in
Indianapolis, Indiana.[22] Stanke served as the Grand Marshal of the 36th Annual Arizona Public Service Electric Light Parade.[23]
In July 2023, Stanke interviewed with
CNN about the "
Barbenheimer" phenomenon and her experience with both
pageants and nuclear science.[26][27] In September 2023, Stanke lent some of her sashes, gowns, and crowns to the Marathon County Historical Society in her hometown for an exhibit there called 'A Woman Who Can'.[28] During her reign, the Wall Street Journal declared Stanke "the new face of nuclear energy."[29] Stanke was named to the 2024
Forbes 30 under 30 for Energy list.[30]
For her last appearance as Miss America (before the 2024 competition), Stanke spoke to sixth grade girls at elementary schools in
Idaho Falls about STEM and nuclear engineering in a partnership with the
Idaho National Laboratory.[31]
Stanke traveled over 270,000 miles during her year as Miss America.[31][32]