4 things you need to know about Miss Kansas 2017

Krystian Fish, newly crowned Miss Kansas, is no stranger to dirty laundry or having to share after growing up as the oldest of six siblings.

She loves a good taco, is a junior studying psychology at Wichita State University and is a comic book character in “Kid Power.”

Fish, 20, was crowned Miss Kansas on Saturday and is “not a pageant girl.” She will compete in the Miss America pageant on Sept. 10 in Atlantic City, N.J.

Here are four things Fish thinks you should know about her.

▪ She is Wichita and Kansas proud. She loves the people, the art on Douglas and any opportunity to tell people about where she was born and raised.

“It’s part of who I am,” she said. “I can’t imagine living anywhere else, and people say I’m crazy.

“But my goal in Miss America is to show people what Kansas girls can do. Sometimes they think we’re a flyover state, but we’re a force to be reckoned with – us Kansas girls know that, and it’s time the rest of the world knew that.”

▪ She does not like labels. Fish has volunteered to work with kids with disabilities since she was 11, and she said the opportunity to share her passion with others through her platform “Be Unstoppable: Disability, Not Definition” is why she ran for Miss Kansas.

“I just want to do things for my friends with disabilities,” she said. “It’s a population we overlook, and I’m ready to use the crown as a new platform, as a way to get people’s attention.”

She plans to visit schools across the state to advocate for her “homies with extra chromies” by encouraging youths to see the person, not the disability.

“We have to strip away from labels,” she said.

▪ She was inspired. Fish said she had her first encounter with a Miss Kansas when she was 8 but never imagined she would see that moment come full circle.

“I was so taken … by the kind of person she was that for Halloween, I dressed up as Miss Kansas that year,” she said.

“To see what kind of impact a Miss Kansas had on my life, I understand the kind of role model I have the opportunity to be, so I hope girls know I’m working hard to be someone they can look up to.

“I want to be a light so people understand you can be a good girl. Do things the right way and keep your morals, and you can win a pageant.”

▪ She ate all year. “People look at Miss America and they think about the swimsuit portion,” she said. “And if I could tell a little girl anything, I hope they know I ate all year.”

She said she hates when people think she is starving herself or not being healthy.

“The truth is I eat tacos when I want to,” she said. “It is so much more about being emotionally and mentally prepared and loving who you are.

“To any girl who is looking at this, just know you have to love yourself first.”

This story was originally published June 15, 2017 at 6:24 PM with the headline "4 things you need to know about Miss Kansas 2017."