The crown of Washington State has been passed on to a new beauty, Kelsey Schmidt. On Saturday, the new Miss Washington USA 2016 was crowned at a coronation ceremony held in Redmond.
Kelsey Schmidt of Bellevue was crowned as the new Miss Washington USA 2016 at the “Beauty, Brand, Believe Expo 2016.”
Kelsey Schmidt has a Bachelor of Arts degree in biology from Scripps College and is currently a pre-doctoral fellow at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center (FHCRC) and the University of Washington. Schmidt is a member of Dr. Mario Kratz’s lab in the Public Health Sciences division of FHCRC, where her research focuses on investigating the relationship between lifestyle factors and chronic disease. When she completes her program, Schmidt says she plans to open a nutritional consulting firm and wants to continue her research in chronic disease prevention.
As Miss Washington, Schmidt says she’s looking forward to helping young women embrace good health and a healthy body image.
Kelsey Schmidt takes over the Miss Washington USA 2016 title after Stormy Keffeler resigned from the post in the wake of a drunk driving controversy. Schmidt will go on to compete in the Miss USA Pageant this summer.