June 30, 2021 4:15p
(WGTD)---It’s been nearly 10 years since Carthage College graduate Laura Kaeppeler was crowned Miss America 2012.
Looking back recently with Greg Berg on WGTD’s Morning Show, Kaeppeler expressed no regrets over entering the pageant competition, saying it was an amazing experience that gave her many opportunities she otherwise wouldn’t have had. "I was very young and maybe a little naive but it worked out and it was a great experience," Kaeppeler said. "I wouldn't trade it for the world. I certainly wouldn't be who I am today had I not experienced it," she said.
Today, Laura Kaeppeler co-hosts a weekly health-related podcast named Health Interrupted, continues to speak on issues related to at-risk youth and is raising two children.
She recently announced the creation of an endowment to help fund an existing Carthage scholarship that is named in her honor.
Kaeppeler—who graduated with a degree in music from the school—said Carthage prepared her well for what was to come.
Kaeppeler's mother is expected to meet up soon with the mother of the reigning Miss Wisconsin, Jennifer Schmidt. Although competing in this year's pageant as Miss Rock River Valley, Schmidt is from Racine.
Schmidt told us recently that Kaeppeler's mother reached out to her mother to arrange a meet-up over coffee "so that Sue Kaeppeler can give my mom the inside scoop of what it's like to be Miss Wisconsin's mom because that in and of itself is not an easy job, either."
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