Meet Miss America 2007

"I've been watching Miss America on television since I was a little girl, never in my wildest dreams would I have believed I would be Miss America."

These were the words of Lauren Nelson not long after she was crowned Miss America 2007 in Las Vegas on January 29, 2007, winning a $50,000 scholarship. She succeeded Jennifer Berry, who was also Miss Oklahoma, in the first incident of consecutive winners from the same state since 1959-1960.

This 20 year old, blonde-haired, blue-eyed, beauty was born and raised in Lawton, OK. She attended Lawton Public Schools and is a graduate of MacArthur High School in Lawton. Lauren is a member of Centenary United Methodist Church, where she began singing as a child (and shared a beautiful song with the congregation on Easter morning 2007). She has appeared in many musicals including "Bye Bye Birdie", and "Anything Goes."

A student at the University of Central Oklahoma, pursuing a Masters Degree in Musical Theater, Lauren aspires to be a Broadway star. She has received the Renaissance Academic Award for maintaining a 4.0 GPA, the Lawton Community Foundation Scholarship, and the University of Central Oklahoma Freshman Merit Scholarship.

Lauren was Miss Teen Oklahoma in 2004, and performed at the 2005 Miss Oklahoma Pageant. She then won the Miss Oklahoma State Fair title and went onto compete in the 2006 Miss Oklahoma pageant. She was crowned Miss Oklahoma 2006 on June 11, 2006 and received a $16,000 scholarship. Winning this crown at age 19 made her the youngest contestant ever to be named Miss Oklahoma.

From there she headed to Las Vegas in January to compete in the Miss America pageant at the Aladdin Resort and Casino, where she won the Thursday evening preliminary award for Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit. She was the first Miss Oklahoma to receive a swimsuit honor since 1955.