OSHKOSH– Last week was a whirlwind for Grace Stanke.
Stanke arrived in Oshkosh as Miss Badgerland, one of 22 candidates vying for the title of Miss Wisconsin 2022. The Wausau native started competing with the Miss Wisconsin Organization as a teenager, earning the title of Miss Wisconsin's Outstanding Teen in 2017.
But when she learned she had won the title of Miss Wisconsin Saturday, she was still "in disbelief," and was incredibly emotional in the moment.
In an interview with The Northwestern on Sunday, Stanke said her engineering mind started doing what it does best — making lists and coming up with a plan of what should be a whirlwind of a year representing the state.
Part of her year of service will be spreading the word on her social impact pitch, "Clean Energy, Cleaner Future," which was part of the Miss Wisconsin competition. In that role, she hopes to promote zero-carbon energy sources like nuclear energyso the state can help reduce the effects of the climate crisis.
"I’m really excited to start working on policy work and helping make zero-carbon energy more accessible," Stanke said.
Grace Stanke builtconfidence through the Miss Wisconsin competition
Stanke started playing the violin when she was 8 years old and took private lessons through most of her life. But she said when she would be performing at competitions, she would "shake," which would hurt the sound quality.
Her desire to gain more experience in front of an audience is what got her involved in theMiss Wisconsin's Outstanding Teen competitions.
Stanke said she loved the interview aspects, which helped her gain a lot of communication skills and confidence she credits with being important for her career.
Stanke also said she feels her time competing changed how she carried herself. At 5-foot-11 inches, she realized competing helped her learn correct postureand to carry herself with more confidence.
"(Competing) helped me be comfortable in my own skin," Stanke said.
That confidence shone on stage during the talent aspect of the competition, when Stankeperformed"The Storm" from Vivaldi's The Four Seasons.
Being surrounded by the other candidates also was a confidence boost.
"We know we have women that have our backs and have supported each other through thick or thin," she said.
Her goal is to communicate the complexity of nuclear power
Growing up, Stanke said she was always interested in pursuing some part of science or engineering.
Her father, a civil engineer, often took her to construction sites.Eventually, she chose to pursue nuclear science even though her dad told her "it would not be a good field to go into."
That decision led to Stanke to pursue a bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
It was there she continued torealizenuclear science — from X-rays and MRI's to chemotherapy —is all around us.
That lesson hit close to home when her dad was treated for Hodgkin's Lymphoma at the UW-Madison Hospital'soncology unit when she was a kid.
Stanke said hewent from "a 6-foot, 6-inch teddy bear to a bag of bones" while undergoing intense chemotherapytreatment twice a day for seven days.
"(Nuclear science) is what saved my dad," Stanke said. "Learning about those impacts and effects ... is what truly got me into it."
But nuclear power and other zero-carbon energy sourcescan be a key way to help solve the climate crisis.
She witnessed the changing landscape during three trips to Glacier National Park, whereone hike to a glacier went from a 7-mile-long hike to a 20-mile hike.
Stanke acknowledgedthere is a communication gap between the nuclear engineering field and the general public. For many, the first association with the word "nuclear" is "bombs" or "Chernobyl." Those negative connotations of nuclear science are something Stanke wants to change.
"I want to provide a crucial first impression to people in Wisconsin so they associate (nuclear) with clean, green energy," Stanke said.
She wants to be a role model as a woman in STEM
Stanke said while her trips to construction sites with her dad were crucial to her developing an interest in science-based career fields, they were sometimes a "sad experience" because of the male domination.
According to a report from the American Association of University Women, women make up just 28% of the workforce in science, technology, engineering and mathematics, or STEM,fields.
Stanke has felt that firsthand, especially working in nuclear engineering.
She remembered one day when she was working at a lab where she was one of two women on the staff and agroup of Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts were getting a tour of the facility. Only one girl was on the tour. Stanke said that girl looked "bored and uninterested."
Stanke said she pulled her aside and asked her why she was on the tour. The girlsaid nuclear science seemedfun, but all she saw was men and machines. Stanke said after talking with her for 15 minutes, the girl's eyes lit up. Once back with the others, she beganasking questions on the rest of the tour.
That kind of representation is something Stanke hopes she can provide for young women interested in STEM fields across the state.
"I hope I can continue to pave the way for women in the future and help make it an equal percentage of women and men in the field," Stanke said.
From finding the best cheese curds and driving all across the state— preparing lots of playlists to "blast" in the car— Stanke knows she is in a great position to share her passions as she begins her reign as Miss Wisconsin.
And two huge parts of her life: pageantsand nuclear engineering, will make her time incredibly exciting and fulfilling as she looks to share her pitch of "Clean Energy, Cleaner Future."
"If I hadn’t gotten involved (with the Miss America Organization), I probably would have been another engineer that just talks to other engineers," Stanke said."I’ve gotten so excited to spread the word and be a representative between the nuclear industry and the general public."
Contact Bremen Keasey at 920-570-5614 or bkeasey@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter at @Keasinho.
This article originally appeared on Oshkosh Northwestern: Miss Wisconsin Grace Stanke platform is Clean Energy, Cleaner Future
