Meghan Coffey is a beauty queen from

New Berlin, Wisconsin New Berlin () is a city in eastern Waukesha County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 40,451 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is part of the Milwaukee metropolitan area. Pronunciation Area residents put the accent on ...

who competed in the

Miss America Miss America is an annual competition that is open to women from the United States between the ages of 18 and 28. Originating in 1921 as a "bathing beauty revue", the contest is judged on competition segments with scoring percentages: ''Priva ...

pageant in 2007. Coffey was raised in

and upon graduation from high school, she attended

Marquette University Marquette University () is a Private university, private Jesuit research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States. It was established as Marquette College on August 28, 1881, by John Henni, the first Archbishop of the Roman Catholic Ar ...

, where she received her

Bachelor of Science A Bachelor of Science (BS, BSc, B.S., B.Sc., SB, or ScB; from the Latin ') is a bachelor's degree that is awarded for programs that generally last three to five years. The first university to admit a student to the degree of Bachelor of Scienc ...

degree in Biomedical Engineering in May 2006. Coffey received her Juris Doctor degree from Marquette in May 2012 and is now a registered patent attorney.

Pageant History

Coffey is an accomplished twirler who was the national talent winner in the 2003 Miss National Teenager pageant held in

Nashville, Tennessee Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

. She first competed in the

Miss Wisconsin The Miss Wisconsin competition is the pageant, held annually in Oshkosh, that selects the representative for the U.S. state of Wisconsin in the annual Miss America pageant. Wisconsin has won the Miss America crown three times (1973, 2012, ...

pageant in June 2005 after winning the Miss Milwaukee title earlier that year. In the state pageant she won a preliminary swimsuit award and placed fourth runner-up. The following year Coffey won the Miss New Berlin local title and competed in the Miss Wisconsin pageant for the second time. She again won a preliminary swimsuit award, and was chosen as the state titleholder for 2006. She is the second consecutive Miss New Berlin to win the Miss Wisconsin pageant. Her first runner-up, Caitlin Morrall, later competed and won the

Miss Wisconsin USA The Miss Wisconsin USA competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Wisconsin in the Miss USA pageant. Since 2007, the state pageant has been directed by Future Productions of Savage, Minnesota. Wisconsin is on ...

pageant in September 2006 and competed at

Miss USA Miss USA is an American beauty pageant that has been held annually since 1952 to select the entrant from United States in the Miss Universe pageant. The Miss Universe Organization operated both pageants, as well as Miss Teen USA, until 2020. ...

. Coffey represented Wisconsin in the

Miss America 2007 Miss America 2007, the 80th Miss America pageant, was held on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada on Monday, January 29, 2007, making it the first time that the pageant was held on a weekday, rather than the traditional Saturday since 1927's ...

pageant held in

Las Vegas, Nevada Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

in January 2007.

Charity work

Coffey has been active in a number of charity activities such as volunteering and working for Children's Hospital of Wisconsin on "''Project A.D.A.M.''" (Automatic Defibrillators in Adam's Memory), an initiative begun after 4 young athletes died from sudden

cardiac arrest Cardiac arrest (also known as sudden cardiac arrest CA is when the heart suddenly and unexpectedly stops beating. When the heart stops beating, blood cannot properly Circulatory system, circulate around the body and the blood flow to the ...

during sporting activities. Coffey is the founder of "''Start a Heart''" an organization founded in 2004 to talk to schools, teachers, parents and coaches about the need for Automatic External

Defibrillators Defibrillation is a treatment for life-threatening cardiac arrhythmias, specifically ventricular fibrillation (V-Fib) and non-perfusing ventricular tachycardia (V-Tach). Defibrillation delivers a dose of electric current (often called a ''count ...

(AEDs) to be placed in school buildings and gymnasiums and to train students and staff on how to use them. She became involved in these causes after a younger cousin had been hit in the chest with a baseball, and immediate action saved the cousin's life. The Start a Heart organization has supported the New Berlin Fire Department in their 2006 drive to have AEDs installed in all of the city

ambulance An ambulance is a medically-equipped vehicle used to transport patients to treatment facilities, such as hospitals. Typically, out-of-hospital medical care is provided to the patient during the transport. Ambulances are used to respond to ...

s, and fund raising efforts have been made through various events such as lectures, demonstrations and fundraising dance clinics.

Dance

Coffey has been active in both dance and baton-twirling. After winning several state championships, she was placed as one of the top six baton-twirlers in the US.

References

External links

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Start a Heart
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coffey, Meghan Living people Miss America 2007 delegates People from New Berlin, Wisconsin Year of birth missing (living people)