Caressa Cameron is Miss America 2010

Caressa Cameron, Miss Virginia, was crowned Miss America 2010. She beat 52 other contestants to grab the tiara and $50,000. Caressa Cameron was crowned Miss Virginia on her fourth attempt. The 22-year old communication major student has always wanted to work with AIDS awareness institutions and she made her intentions clear from the time she started participating in beauty pageants.

Caressa said, "I lost an uncle to AIDS, and my family also helped care for a foster child with juvenile AIDS. I really think our school systems do a wonderful job educating students about AIDS. But young people have developed an apathetic attitude toward this disease and feel this can't affect them." In an interview, she urged children to "expand your mind, go outside and get to see what this world is like".

She credited her family for being the ones who supported her through thick and thin. She said that her family was her strength and made her believe that "You can be anything that you want to be, even Miss America." She sang the Beyonce number ‘Listen’ and also asked parents to take care of the obesity measures of their children by cutting down on television and video games. Mario Lopez was the host for the Las Vegas event. Miss California came in second and Miss Louisiana finished third.