Newswise — At the University of Indianapolis, senior communication major Katie Stam is known for her scholarship, leadership and volunteer work.
First as news director and later as operations manager for startup campus cable station UIndy TV, she led her team to an underdog win as the Indiana Association of School Broadcasters' 2008 TV School of the Year. The aspiring journalist " who carries a 3.6 GPA and has interned at local stations WISH and WTHR " claimed first place in the TV News Anchor and TV News Package categories. Previously, she took second place for TV Hard News Reporting in the national Broadcast Education Association's annual competition.
On Saturday night, she claimed another national title: Miss America.
Faculty and students at UIndy never doubted that Stam had a good shot at the crown.
"Honestly, we wouldn't be at all surprised if she won," was an earlier comment from her academic adviser, communication instructor and broadcasting veteran Scott Uecker, general manager of UIndy TV and university-owned radio station WICR-FM. "Occasionally we see a student who makes us say, 'I'm going to be working for her someday.' She is definitely one of those students."
From the start, Stam, 22, seemed to be headed to the finals. On Tuesday, the first night of Miss America preliminaries, the reigning Miss Indiana won the Lifestyle and Fitness competition, claiming a $1,000 scholarship. She also was a standout on the TLC miniseries "Miss America: Countdown to the Crown," winning one of four top individual prizes and a chance to be voted into the finals by TV viewers across the country.
Well aware of the pageant industry's dubious image in some minds, Stam is quick to point out that she has funded much of her college education with previous pageant prizes. And already, as Miss Indiana, she has made countless public appearances touting her pageant platform issue, community service.
At UIndy, where the motto is "Education for Service," Stam has chaired student government's Service and Philanthropy Committee, organizing fund-raisers to aid the homeless and the Ronald McDonald House at Riley Hospital for Children. In October, she directed the university's annual Super Saturday of Service, with hundreds of students performing volunteer work around the city.
"My whole theory about community service is making it easy for people," says Stam, daughter of Keith and Tracy Stam of Seymour. "A lot of people don't get involved because they think it's too hard."
Stam is the university's second contender for the Miss America crown. Former music major Karen Louise Rogers competed in 1973 after being named Miss Indiana.
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