How Miss America Madison Marsh was president of the Astronomy Club in high school, took the water boy with special needs to prom, and read to local kids all before becoming a military pilot and Harvard grad student

The newly-crowned Miss America, the first active duty military officer to win the national competition, was one of the most popular girls back in high school, a cheerleader who served as president of the Astronomy and Earth Clubs, flew planes, and aspired to take a rocket to Mars.

But what locals most respected was the way Madison Marsh treated others – even in her choice for a prom date when she accepted an invitation not from a football star, but from a water boy for the team with special needs.

'That's how everyone knows her – Sweet Madison,' said 22-year-old Savannah Parker from Madison's graduating class at Southside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas. 'She was friendly with everyone. Someone like him even, with autistic needs, looked up to Madison. It says a lot about her. That's just the person she is.'

Students chose Parker over Madison as homecoming queen their senior year in 2019. 

Now working at a clothing boutique in Fort Smith, Parker livestreamed the Miss America contest Sunday night, watching with nervous excitement along with co-workers who let out a boisterous cheer when Madison's name was called out. 

Madison Marsh, 22, became the first active duty military officer to be crowned Miss America on Sunday

Madison, pictured last month prior to her familiarization flight at Nellis Air Force Base, is a second lieutenant who graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs last year before being crowned Miss Colorado

In high school Madison was the president of her astronomy club. She's pictured in her yearbook next to a quote 

The second lieutenant graduated from the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs last year before being crowned Miss Colorado.

'Coming from a small town and knowing Madison, and going to school with her, hearing and seeing her name being announced as Miss America was just a thrilling experience to watch live,' she said. 'It makes you happy to know her, it makes you happy for her and I just can't wait to see the year she serves.'

Madison's father Dr. Michael Marsh shared another story of his daughter as a local role model, how she would always find time to read to children at an elementary school during trips home from the Academy, wearing an Air Force jumpsuit while answering questions. After she became Miss Colorado last year, she let the kids wear her sash and crown.

DailyMail.com visited her hometown where locals said she was always 'Sweet Madison' who took a special needs classmate to prom

Speaking exclusively with DailyMail.com Tuesday, he said he flew to Orlando to attend the ceremony in person, fronting the cost of tickets for 30 of his daughter's loved ones from Fort Smith and across the country, including her boyfriend, who DailyMail.com can reveal is a fellow Air Force officer and a National Collegiate Boxing Association champion named Walker Morris.

The proud dad said he even became a 'member' of the venue, the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, so he could access advance tickets in bulk.

The 66-year-old said the most emotional moment came after Madison, now a grad student at Harvard University, was declared the winner and he saw his daughter burst with emotion.

'I was still sort of numbish,' he told DailyMail.com. 'It just sort of happened, and I kept saying to myself, ''This is so funny.'' Everyone around me started hooting and hollering, grabbing me. Others were holding their phones up, filming. I kind of wanted to just watch.'

At one point, Madison, trembling, flashed a sapphire and diamond ring she was wearing toward the heavens in what her father described as a bittersweet gesture to her late mother Whitney, who died of pancreatic cancer in 2018 aged just 41.

Marsh explained that Madison had the ring refashioned from an earring that belonged to her mother, after her mom lost the other one. It was crafted to resemble the famous Ceylon engagement ring that Princess Diana once wore.

Standing up front, within earshot of his daughter, Marsh said he leaned toward her while crying out, 'I wish your mom was here to see this.'

He said that hours later, Madison was finally allowed to leave the venue. She and her loved ones retreated to her hotel where she shed her red dress for a bath robe. Her dad footed the bill for several orders of tacos.

'What she wanted most was to eat Taco Bell, actually,' Marsh laughed. 'Because for she and her boyfriend at the Air Force Academy, apparently Taco Bell is the thing. I'm not a Taco Bell guy, but regardless, we got it Ubered in so she could eat. We ordered a bunch for the whole crowd.'

Madison's father Dr. Michael Marsh sat down with DailyMail.com for his first interview since his daughter was crowned Miss America. Marsh told DailyMail.com that he was still buzzing days later

Madison's dad is pictured escorting her during her high school graduation ceremony 

Madison is pictured with her parents. Her mother Whitney died of pancreatic cancer in 2018

At one point, when Madison won, she flashed a sapphire and diamond ring she was wearing toward the heavens in what her father described as a bittersweet gesture to her late mother Whitney

Madison is pictured in New York City on Wednesday for the start of a whirlwind media tour, where she appeared on The View

His daughter headed off the next day to New York City for the start of a whirlwind media tour. Dr. Marsh, an ear, nose & throat specialist, flew back to snowy Fort Smith, a low-key city of 90,000 near the Oklahoma border.

Sitting down for his first interview since the ceremony, Marsh told DailyMail.com that he was still buzzing days later, especially when he turns on the television to see his daughter's face on TV, noting the odd experience of seeing Whoopi Goldberg that morning celebrating his daughter's achievements on The View.

He also talked about an appearance Madison made Saturday on Fox & Friends Weekend, and how glad he was to see her duck a hot-button question about gender.

'I'm going to try this out for you – what is a woman?' one of the co-hosts asked Madison as the others giggled. After a brief pause, she replied, 'You know, serving to me, being a woman in the military is all that you make of it …. I really think that you as a woman have to define that for yourself.'

Her father breathed a sigh of relief.

'For me, I looked at that and said, damn good answer,' her dad told DailyMail.com. 'She avoided a damned sand trap there.'

He said his daughter is 'middle of the road' politically and that talking about political and cultural issues 'would detract from what she wants to do this next year.'

'What she thinks politically is kind of different from what she wants to accomplish this year,' said Marsh, leaning against his kitchen counter in his luxurious stone house, adorned with family photos including one of him hugging his daughter at her high school graduation.

Marsh said that he was planning to return this week to work in his office where the nurses were all 'atwitter' about the Miss America pageant. He joked that he might show up wearing a sash embroidered with the words 'Doctor Dad America' on it.

He was also looking forward to welcoming his daughter home when she gets some time off.

Madison was on her senior homecoming court in high school, but missed out on the title of Homecoming Queen 

'That's how everyone knows her – Sweet Madison,' said 22-year-old Savannah Parker from Madison's graduating class at Southside High School in Fort Smith, Arkansas 

Savannah Parker was elected Homecoming Queen over the now Miss America Madison 

In addition to being the president of the Earth Club and Astronomy Club, Madison (center) was also a cheerleader 

Meanwhile, the city is planning to host a homecoming celebration for Madison in coming weeks.

'Her achievement has created a lot of pride in our community and she's an amazing inspiration for all our kids,' Fort Smith's mayor George McGill told DailyMail.com. 'My plan is that it will be an event that she will never forget. It's a special time for us here in Fort Smith, Arkansas to be able to celebrate Miss America in her hometown.'

Many of her childhood friends and teachers are expected to attend, including her physics teacher John Lehman.

He told DailyMail.com that he was 'shocked but not surprised' that she won the pageant, pointing out that 'she's one of those girls that, if she puts her mind to something, she can absolutely do it.'

Madison's physics teacher John Lehman told DailyMail.com that he was 'shocked but not surprised' that she won the pageant, pointing out that 'she's one of those girls that, if she puts her mind to something, she can absolutely do it'

He had Madison for two AP classes. He also agreed to sponsor the school's Astronomy Club after Madison convinced him to restart the defunct club.

'Even back then, she had this deep desire to go into aerospace and to join the Air Force,' he told DailyMail.com.

He was impressed by the practical steps she took toward achieving her goals. A year after graduating high school, he said, she returned home for break and informed him that she was studying Russian at the Academy so she could speak with Russian ground control should she join a mission involving the international space station.

He wasn't so clear, at first, how beauty pageants fit into Madison's career trajectory. But he said it made sense when he learned her reasons for pursuing the title: to use the Miss America platform for community service to promote cancer research and education in honor of her mother, who died early in Madison's senior year of high school.

The 22-year-old channeled her grief by creating the Whitney Marsh Foundation with her father and younger sister to raise money for pancreatic cancer research, awareness, early detection, and patient care. The family also launched an annual race in Fort Smith honoring her mother, an avid runner, raising nearly $300,000.

At Madison's high school graduation ceremony, she gave a speech to fellow graduates describing the last moment she held her mother's hands.

'Time is fleeting,' she said from the podium. 'You may never know that it has slipped through your fingers until it is far too late. How do you spend your time? Do you invest it? Do you waste it? Do you count down your days or do you make your days count?'

In high school, Madison was president of Earth Club her senior year. She's pictured in the front row in a white shirt 

The second lieutenant was crowned Miss Colorado last year shortly after she graduated with a degree in physics

Madison's strength also came across during the three-day Miss America competition.

'I'm very excited to get to represent women who can break stereotypes,' Madison said in an interview that the pageant shared on its Instagram page.

She spoke about her first solo flight at the age of 16, and how it helped to strengthen her leadership skills. She said her military credentials embodied her commitment to learning and leading with passion.

'I'm now trying to take the next step and use my studies from the (Harvard) Kennedy School to learn about the inner workings and the difficulties of what policy really looks like,' Madison said.

Her father said he was reluctant to get too excited coming into the competition, having seen her come up short in other pageants she'd entered as an extracurricular activity while studying at the Air Force Academy in Colorado Springs.

'I've been to several pageants since she started,' Marsh told DailyMail.com. 'For us, when she didn't get any preliminary awards, I was like, oh my gosh, bad omen.' And then when she made the top 11, I said, okay, she's got a fighting chance.'

He said his initial hope was that the world would at least get to see his daughter in her red dress, which her younger sister Heidi helped her pick out.

'I wasn't allowed to see it initially, but I got to see it in the prelims and thought it was stunning,' he said.

What happened next was a blur. After the announcement, he recalled the exchange with his daughter, and then being bear hugged by Madison's boyfriend and his dad, who joked that he might need a chiropractor after how hard they squeezed him.

Back home Tuesday, he was trying to make some sense of it all during his interview with DailyMail.com.

He delved into Madison's upbringing, explaining how she grew up with her younger sister Heidi and three older siblings from his prior marriage.

Marsh said his own father served in the U.S. Army during World War II and the Korean War and was Chief of Chaplains in the Pacific during the Vietnam War.

He and Whitney sent Madison to Space Camp in Huntsville, Alabama, when she was 13, planting seeds for her love of space. Her father said she grew obsessed with the stars during a sailing trip in the Caribbean Sea in 2015. It inspired her to want to become the first person to walk on Mars.

Madison's father said she plans to take time off from Harvard for her hectic year where she'll be promoting Miss America, the military, and the Whitney Foundation

Madison is pictured with her boyfriend, who DailyMail.com can reveal is a fellow Air Force officer and a National Collegiate Boxing Association champion named Walker Morris

At age 15, Madison got started working toward her goal by approaching a local flight instructor named J.D. Williams. Williams, a retired Air Force colonel, who insisted he was no longer accepting new trainees, but she convinced him to take her on.

'J.D. was full when Madison came in and said, 'Here's my game plane: I want to be a pilot because I want to go to the Air Force Academy, become a test pilot, join NASA and go to Mars,' the father recalled.

'This is a 15-year-old girl saying she had this all gamed out, and she was a cheerleader, by the way,' he added. 'So, to take some little blond cheerleader who's claiming all this, he looked at her and took her seriously and said, 'Ok, I'll take this one on.'

'J.D. became a trusted mentor who made a big difference in her life,' the father said.

The 58-year-old passed away in August 2021, and Madison served as a pallbearer at his funeral.

Madison later interned one summer for U.S. Rep. Steve Womack, R-Ark. He co-sponsored her efforts to join the Academy. 

The congressman celebrated Sunday's victory, stating: 'I've had the pleasure of seeing Madison grow up over the years, and I couldn't be more proud of her on this unbelievable accomplishment! Her remarkable strength and story will be an inspiration for young women all across America.'

Madison's father said she plans to take time off from Harvard for her hectic year where she'll be promoting Miss America, the military, and the Whitney Foundation.

Her father said he's confident she can handle it and is already looking beyond that.

'I can't, I guess, project into the future all the things she's going to do, where she will go,' the father told DailyMail.com. 'She's said the sky's not the limit, and I think she could do many things. But this is just a year coming up, and whatever happens going forward, I just want her to be happy and satisfied with what she does. That's about it.'