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North Dakota has its first ever Miss America.

Cara Mund, Miss North Dakota, was crowned Miss America on Sunday night in Atlantic City, N.J.

Mund, a 23-year-old Bismarck native, said during the pageant that North Dakota has only had three contestants make it to the top 10 of the pageant. In response to a question from a judge, Mund said making it to the top 10 was on her bucket list.

"It just proves that it doesn't matter where you come from geographically, if you have the ability to do it and you dream it, you can do it," she said.

Mund, whose platform is "A Make-A-Wish Passion with Fashion," founded North Dakota's annual Make-A-Wish Fashion show when she was 14 and has raised more than $78,500 for the charity.

In recognition of her work for Make-A-Wish, Mund was named a Jean Bartel Quality of Life Award finalist during the competition, the first North Dakotan to receive that honor.

During the pageant, she performed a self-choreographed jazz dance to Michael Jackson's "The Way You Make Me Feel."

Mund is a Brown University graduate and heading to law school.

(Reach Amy Dalrymple at 701-250-8267 or Amy.Dalrymple@bismarcktribune.com)

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