The Miss America Organization has adopted a national platform of encouraging young women to pursue STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math) careers and Miss Chattanooga 2013 will be following that path once she graduates from UTC.
As a student at North Middle School in Winchester, Dacey Winkleman was a two-time Junior Division Grand Champion in 2003 and 2005 at The Chattanooga Science and Engineering Regional Fair for her physics projects.
Ms. Winkleman will be returning to the scene of her triumph on Thursday night when she is the guest speaker at the 2013 Awards Ceremony at the University Center Auditorium. The event gets underway at 6 pm and she will also assist in presenting the medals and awards to the 61st Anniversary recipients. The first and second grand prize winners in the Senior Division (Grades nine-12) will win all-expense paid trips to compete in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in Phoenix along with academic scholarships to the colleges of their choice.
The Junior Division (Grades six through eight) winners will receive awards and medals and could participate in later national competitions.
Ms. Winkleman, who was named Miss Chattanooga last October, is a senior in the University Honors Program majoring in Molecular Biology. She has completed three summer internships with the Aerospace Testing Alliance at Arnold Air Force Base in Tullahoma. After receiving her undergraduate degree in May, 2014, she plans to attend graduate school and eventually receive her Ph.D. The 2009 graduate of Franklin County High School wants to become a medical researcher specializing in stem cell technologies.
In addition to being Miss Chattanooga, the four-year UTC majorette and member of Chi Omega Sorority was elected as the 2012 Homecoming Queen.
Ms. Winkleman will compete at the Miss Tennessee Pageant in June where she hopes to follow in former UTC classmate Chandler Lawson’s footsteps as the second consecutive Miss Chattanooga to ascend to the state title.