The twenty-three year old Hagan won the recent Miss America pageant in Las Vegas with a show-stopping set of performances. Amongst other things she demonstrated her tap dancing ability to “Get Up Off of That Thing” by James Brown, and weighed in on the current debate about the role of armed guards in schools along with the wider-reaching issue of child sexual abuse.

For her effort, the contestant was awarded with a $50,000 college scholarship. She hopes to become the executive of a cosmetics company later in her life.

The pageant as a whole had many other worthy contestants, of course. Amongst them were an eighteen year old named Alexis Wineman who, as Miss Montana, was the first autistic woman to compete in the contest; she made it to the semi finals.

Another eighteen year old is Miss Iowa, Mariah Cary. Cary has suffered from Tourette’s syndrome since childhood and hopes to raise awareness of the subject, something she has certainly achieved by competing in the pageant. The previous New Yorker to be named Miss America was Vanessa Williams, who competed in 1984.

NYC is world renowned as one of the most beautiful cities in the world. With the naming of a Brooklyn woman as Miss America this reputation looks set to harden just a little more. Perhaps her victory will lead to more interest in New York in general and Brooklyn in particular; certainly, any tourist from anywhere in the world will find plenty to savour in the vast city.