EDEN PRAIRIE — A former Rochester woman, Madeline Van Ert, was crowned Miss Minnesota during the scholarship pageant on Saturday at the Eden Prairie High School Performing Center.
Van Ert won the crown as Miss River Valley, a pageant held in the Twin Cities. Miss River Valley is an open dual pageant covering Washington County and St. Croix Valley along with Miss St. Croix Valley.
She was Miss Rochester 2015; Rochester didn't have a representative among the 26 contestants in this year's Miss Minnesota. In the competition, Van Ert won the Team Kick Buttschau scholarship award for preliminary lifestyle and fitness and the Lauren (Green) & Ted Nikilos Preliminary Talent competition for playing the piano and singing "What A Wonderful World."
Her theme is "fine arts for kids."
She will appear across the state while preparing for the Miss America competition in September in Atlantic City, N.J.
According to the Miss Minnesota Pageant, Van Ert is a legislative intern at the Minnesota Senate and is a student assistant to the dean of the Walter Mondale School of Law. She is a graduate of Rochester Mayo High School and a student at the University of Minnesota, where she is pursuing degrees in political science and Latin.
http://www.postbulletin.com/news/local/former-miss-rochester-is-miss-minnesota-winner/article_e0fb4b5f-af33-5d62-9cd9-e837f186b35d.html