Miss Arizona and Miss Alaska both have GCU roots
Grand Canyon University will join an exclusive club at this weekend’s Miss America pageant.
Two of the contestants are proud Lopes – a rare distinction for any university in a national competition featuring just one representative from each state.
Miss Arizona 2026, Victoria Vredevoogd, is a Sheila and Mike Ingram Honors College alumna carrying both her home state and GCU colors with her. Miss Alaska 2026, Nora Andrews, is a current GCU psychology major whose passion for suicide prevention and mental health advocacy has been strengthened by her time on the west Phoenix campus.
The two met for the first time this summer at a Fourth of July celebration in Pennsylvania. Now they will share the national stage as fellow Lopes at Sunday’s 5 p.m. competition in West Palm Beach, Florida.
The event can be streamed live on YouTube or PageantVision.
“Representing Arizona at Miss America is something I have dreamed about since I was 13 years old, so having the opportunity to do it while also representing the GCU community means so much to me,” Vredevoogd said. “GCU was such an important part of the person I became before law school and before Miss Arizona. It was where I learned to push myself academically, pursue big goals, and have confidence in what I was capable of accomplishing.”
Vredevoogd graduated summa cum laude with a bachelor’s degree in marketing and advertising, with a minor in professional writing for new media. She is now entering her final year at Arizona State University’s Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law.
In June, she was crowned Miss Arizona 2026 at the Mesa Arts Center.
“The Honors College challenged me academically while giving me the opportunity to pursue so many of the dreams I had outside of the classroom,” she said. “From becoming a published author to attending law school, founding the Gender Violence Project, and now competing for Miss America, so many of the dreams I am living today were dreams I was working toward while I was a student at GCU.”
While at GCU, Vredevoogd pursued her passion for writing alongside her business education. She went on to publish a 400-page fantasy novel, “A Legend of Golden Shadows,” which became an Amazon fantasy bestseller. That foundation helped launch her to law school and into advocacy work that now defines her Miss Arizona platform.
Vredevoogd is the founder and president of The Gender Violence Project, a student-led organization that provides free legal resources and advocacy for survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. Through a partnership with the American Bar Association, survivors seeking assistance through the organization can access pro bono legal consultations.
Inspired by her own survivor experience, Vredevoogd successfully petitioned for Arizona’s first Gender-Based Violence Awareness Day, proclaimed by Gov. Katie Hobbs and presented at the Arizona State Capitol by Secretary of State Adrian Fontes.
At Miss Arizona, she earned preliminary awards in Talent and Fitness and placed in the Top 3 for the Quality of Life Award for her work with The Gender Violence Project. A classically trained vocalist since before college, she performed “Think of Me” from The Phantom of the Opera for the talent competition.
“One of the greatest things GCU taught me was that my goals did not have to fit into one box,” Vredevoogd said. “I could love writing and publish a fantasy novel, pursue a legal career, advocate for survivors, and still chase a dream I had held since I was a little girl. I think that mindset has played a huge role in the path that ultimately brought me to Miss America.
“Now, after more than half of my life dreaming about this moment, I get to walk onto the Miss America stage representing Arizona and carrying my GCU education with me.”
Both Vredevoogd and Andrews are turning some of the most difficult seasons of life into platforms for others. Andrews is using her own lived experience with a suicide attempt to advocate for mental health support across Alaska.
The Seward, Alaska, native has built her Miss America platform around suicide prevention and education, work she began cultivating through her studies at GCU and her partnership with the American Foundation for Suicide Prevention. Andrews’ talent is a spoken word narrative called “Love the Snow and It Will Love You Back.” The narrative, or HERStory, shares her journey and points young audiences toward help and hope.
“I told (Victoria) that we'd be spending a lot of time together,” Andrews said. “It would be really cool to attend games and whatnot together as Miss Alaska and Miss Arizona. So we have a lot to look ahead to in the future.”
GCU News senior writer Jason Gonzalez can be reached at [email protected].
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