Theresa Vail

Vail graduated in 2009 from Leavenworth High School, Leavenworth, Kansas.^[2] She began her education at Kansas State University in 2009, before taking a leave of absence when she became Miss Kansas in 2013.^[1][2][3][4] After finishing her year as Miss Kansas, and briefly hosting programs for the Outdoor Channel, Vail returned to Kansas State^[5] where she completed her B.A. in Psychology in 2016,^[6] a second B.S. in chemistry, and a master's degree in Psychology in 2018.^[7] She planned to begin medical school at the University of Kansas School of Medicine in the summer of 2018.^[8]

Vail is a mechanic and section leader in the Kansas Army National Guard Medical Detachment.^[3][9]

Vail competed in the Miss Leavenworth County Pageant in 2012, one of the local competitions a titleholder must win in order to move on to Miss Kansas.^[10][11] As she considered archery to be her skill,^[3] she had assumed that this is what she would do for the talent portion of the competition. A few days before preparing to compete, however, she found out that "projectile objects were forbidden" and that she had to choose a new talent or drop out of the competition.^[2][3] Vail began to search "YouTube for opera songs to perform" because she felt that she "couldn't sing anything contemporary"^[2] and might as well go big or go home. From this search, she chose to sing the aria "Nessun dorma." Vail states that she had "never sung opera in my life [...] I had an appreciation for it [...] and I sang soprano in choir back in high school, but I hadn't sung since then and certainly never opera."^[3]

After winning Miss Leavenworth County, she went on to compete and win the Miss Kansas title on June 8, 2013.^[2][12]

She next competed (as Miss Kansas) in the Miss America 2014 contest with the platform "Empowering Women: Overcoming Stereotypes and Breaking Barriers."^[1][4] This was inspired by the way that outdoor sports with her father helped her to overcome being bullied as a child: "I was bullied when I was a kid. It got so bad that I nearly took my own life... My dad [an Army dentist stationed in Germany] started taking me hunting with him and it saved my life."^[3][13] Vail stated that her primary goal at the Miss America pageant was to set an example, stating in a Twitter message: "Win or not tonight, I have accomplished what I set out to do. I have empowered women. I have opened eyes."^[14][15] She further commented that one of her goals was to break stereotypes.^[3]

The Miss America Pageant began with her win of the "America's Choice," award, which automatically positioned her as one of the 15 semifinalists.^[16][17] Vail then passed the swimsuit competition, in which she became the first Miss America contestant to openly display tattoos, one being the Serenity Prayer along the right side of her torso.^{[18][19][20][21]} She then placed into the Top 10, after passing the evening gown portion of the contest.^[22] Vail was eliminated from the pageant, however, after the talent portion in which she performed the aria "Nessun Dorma", and did not make it into the Top 5.^[22] Both Kansas Journalist Diana Reese (in The Washington Post) and Lisa Gutierrez (in The Wichita Eagle ) focused on Vail's lack of formal training as an opera singer, rather than her tattoos, as the reason why she was not chosen for the top five.^[23][24]

Though she did not win the Miss America crown, Vail said that she enjoyed the experience. In an interview the day after the Miss America contest, she stated that she had become good friends with the winner, Miss New York, Nina Davuluri, and felt "very confident in her ability to do the job."^[16] Despite this fact, there was a backlash of xenophobic and racist comments in social media against Davuluri shortly after she was crowned Miss America 2014 that invoked images of, and comparisons with, Vail.^[25][26] Vail denounced this response on her blog and in interviews.^[13][27]

Vail continued to serve as Miss Kansas until she was succeeded by Amanda Sasek in 2014.^[28][29]