A Fairfax County high school student became the first East Asian to win the Miss Virginia Teen USA title.
Ashley Wang took four AP classes at Oakton High School as a sophomore, she helps lead a tutoring group at school, she’s danced competitively for 11 years, and she was just crowned Miss Virginia Teen USA.
“It still feels weird, even talking to my friends about it, they’ll joke and be like, ‘Hello, Miss Virginia Teen USA,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh my gosh, stop,’” she said.
Ashley signed up for the pageant just to try something new, never expecting to win.
We're making it easier for you to find stories that matter with our new newsletter — The 4Front. Sign up here and get news that is important for you to your inbox.
“When I was talking to most of the girls there, they all had pageant coaches and people to help them, but I really just went with the flow,” she said. “I watched a couple YouTube videos on how to prepare for a pageant interview. I just went along with it and I guess it went well.”
She is the first East Asian to hold the title.
“When I was little, I feel like I didn’t really have that many role models to look up to that looked like me, so I really hope I can be that for other people,” Ashley said.
Northern Virginia
Northern Virginia news, events and updates
Ashley says academics will always be one of her top priorities. Her goal is to study biochemistry in college.
“It’s not my parents or anyone else making me take all these hard classes,” she said. “I really want to push myself, so I think that’s how I get this far, because I have the motivation and it’s not someone else making me.”
Sign up for our Breaking newsletter to get the most urgent news stories in your inbox.
