Miss Washington Kara McCullough Grabs Miss USA 2017 Title

Miss District of Columbia Kara McCullough has won the Miss USA 2017 title at an event held in Mandalay Bay Convention Center on the Las Vegas Strip by outgoing Miss New Jersey Chhavi Verg and Miss Minnesota Meridith Gould.

Miss Illinois Whitney Wandland and Miss South Carolina Megan Gordon were in the top 5 of the beauty pageant. Others who were in the top 10 list were Miss Alaska Alyssa London, Miss California India Williams, Miss Missouri Bayleigh Dayton, Miss New York Hannah Lopa and Miss Tennessee Allee-Sutton Hethcoat.

McCullough will now be representing USA in the Miss Universe contest, date of which has not yet been announced.

She is a physical scientist by profession and works at the nation’s Nuclear Regulatory Commission. She was born in Naples, Italy, and was raised in Virginia Beach, Virginia. She also runs a science outreach program for kids dubbed as Science Exploration or SE4K.

The Miss USA failed two attempts in 2015 and 2016 respectively and became first runner-up.

This is the second time back-to-back Miss Washington, D.C. became Miss USA. In 2016 Deshauna Barber won the title.