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| Miss Idaho, Kimberly Layne. |
History was almost made earlier this week when two Filipino American pageant contestants came within a whisker of sweeping the Miss Teen USA and Miss USA competitions.
Ki‘ilani Arruda of Hawaii won the Miss Teen USA title Saturday in Memphis, Tennessee. Monday night on the same Memphis stage, another Filipino American, Kimberly Layne, was one of the two finalists for Miss USA.
Idaho's Layne, wound up 1st runner-up in the Miss USA pageant. Asya Branch of Mississippi won the Miss USA crown and will represent the U.S. in the Miss Universe contest. If, for whatever reason, Branch is unable to compete, Layne would take her place.
Layne, 26, was born and raised in southern Idaho. Her mother is from the Philippines and her father is Irish American.
“I’m from a rural community originally, and I grew up with all the animals around us,” Layne said. “My dad is from a farming family so he loved animals. Therefore, I loved animals and we always had animals. My dad was a medic in Vietnam, so I grew up being exposed to a lot of medicine concepts with him — I grew up with his anatomy textbooks and everything in our house.”
She graduated from Cornell University with honors in research. Currently, she studies at Washington State University pursuing a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine degree, and a Master of Public Health at the University of Minnesota. In 2012, she represented Idaho in the Miss Teen USA contest.
She is passionate about health promotion and disease prevention, according to the Miss USA website. She also has dual citizenship for the Philippines and the U.S
After the competition, Layne revealed on Instagram that she was honoring her father during the contest.“Three words: I did it! My father’s military dog tags are beneath this gown. He is a 100% disabled, Vietnam veteran who used to travel, hunt, camp & fish. He couldn’t be in the audience last night because of his medical conditions and being immunocompromised but I brought him up there with me.”
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