Two weeks ago, on 13 September 2015, the 89th annual Miss America pageant was held. For those not familiar with the pageant, there are a number of different segments that get judged. Some of these competitions include Swimsuit, Interview, Evening Wear, and Talent.

In the 2016 Miss America pageant, one of the contestants, Miss Colorado 2016, Kelley Johnson, performed a monologue about her experience as a nurse for her Talent. She wore a nurse’s uniform, complete with a stethoscope and her tennis shoes, and shared about her Alzheimer’s patient. In a later interview with Ellen DeGeneres, she defends her decision to perform the monologue instead of something more traditional, such as singing or playing an instrument. She explains that she wanted to be authentic to herself and give a voice to the nurses that work so hard behind the scenes.

However, following the pageant where she earned second runner-up, the ABC talk show The View mocked her and nurses, saying that her entry wasn’t a talent.

I bring this up because I think she is such an outstanding role model for young women and girls. She is unafraid to be true to herself and she has handled the backlash with grace and poise that I, as a young woman, would like to emulate. She also humbles herself to all the nurses in the country and doesn’t call herself the poster child of a nurse, but rather just one of an army of nurses. Humility like this is hard to come by in this day and age, and I strive to be a nurse as composed and humble as she is.

Photo was pulled from this article.