Miss Virginia Caressa Cameron Crowned Miss America 2010

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Caressa Cameron always new she was a pretty good singer, now she knows she's a pretty good beauty queen as she was crowned the new Miss America 2010 from a pool of 53 contestants.

"At that time, all I knew that I could do was sing — that's all I had," Cameron told the press.

The 22-year-old Virginia woman is a broadcast journalism student at Virginia Commonwealth University, but now plans to sit out a second year to travel and fulfill her new duties as Miss America. She travel extensively to raise money for charity and carry the 89-year-old pageant's crown for the remainder of her reign.

"I hope to gain inspiration, I hope to gain momentum so that when this 365 days is over, I can shoot through the moon," Caressa told the AP news.

The beauty queen will be the first black Miss America since Ericka Dunlap won the crown in 2005, and plans to get her master's degree in broadcast journalism.

She strutted her stuff wearing a stunning skintight yellow dress, singing Beyonce's "Listen" from "Dreamgirls" and telling parents to limit video games and television when asked about childhood obesity during an onstage interview.

"We need to get our kids back outside, playing with sticks in the street like I did when I was little," she said. "Expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like."

Cameron got inspired to compete in pageants at 14 years old, when Miss Virginia 2003 Nancy Redd visited her school. This prompted her to try out for a school musical, which snowballed into more opportunities in the arts, drama and other areas.

"More doors and more doors continued to open," she said. "It's so important that we reach our young people, because there are so many young people that are at the very same crossroads that I was at."

"We need those people to let them know that just because your circumstances are a certain way, you don't have to succumb to them," she said. "You can do something amazing, like become Miss America."


Caressa takes the top prize of  $50,000 in scholarship money, while Miss California Kristy Cavinder was the first runner-up, winning $25,000.