But this year, Miss USA 2024, Alma Cooper, rewrote the script.
Just hours before she was expected to crown the new Miss USA on October 24th, Alma took to Instagram to announce she wouldn’t be there.
“After much consideration, I’ve made the extremely difficult decision not to attend this year’s Miss USA pageant and crowning ceremony,” she wrote.
Cue the record scratch.
So, what went down? Why would a titleholder forego one of the most memorable moments of the pageant season? In order to get her reasoning, we have to consider the monumental burden she's been shouldering—and the recent turbulence facing the Miss USA organization.The Woman Behind the Crown: Alma's Powerful Journey
Alma Cooper is not your typical pageant queen. She's a West Point graduate and U.S. Army First Lieutenant. She deferred her postgraduate studies at Stanford University to serve her nation and brand for Miss USA. When she won in 2024, she became the first Afro-Latina woman to hold the title—a moment she described as "one of my life's greatest joys.
Consider her schedule for a moment: This is a woman whose life is a juggling act of military rigor and pageant gaudiness. She called it a "mental, physical and emotional load," but she was going to deal with it in "excellence, wit, poise and intelligence."
A Pageant in Turmoil
Alma's reign occurred in a tumultuous era for Miss USA. Only moments before she was crowned, the former titleholders for both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA did something unprecedented: they resigned.They quit, complaining about a "toxic work environment" and leveling some serious charges against their treatment. This sent the organization into turmoil. The pageant had just been acquired by a new CEO, Thom Brodeur, who vowed to straighten things out. Indeed, he had even publicly extended an invitation to Alma to come, wanting to provide her with a "dignified end to her reign."
But ultimately, Alma went a different route.
Finishing Her Way: Integrity Over Tradition
Alma's words weren't angry or dramatic. They were strong and proud. She said she was closing her book knowing she "finished what I started with integrity and my self-worth held high, just like the crown I was honored to wear."
This says it all. Her choice wasn't about spite; it was about self-respect. It was about writing her own finish on her own terms.
At times, the boldest action you can take is to not appear. It's to step away from a tradition that is not right and safeguard the peace you've labored so intensely to create.
Alma Cooper went into the pageant as a scholar and a soldier. She's exiting it the same way—on her own terms, with a defiant head held high. And that may be a stronger legacy for the next generation than any crowning ceremony possibly could ever be.
Image Credit: Instagram
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