Like Mother, Like Daughter at Miss New Hampshire Pageant

🔴 Brooke Mills was named Miss New Hampshire and will compete at the Miss America Pageant

🔴 She is a Concord resident and represented Bedford at the competition

🔴 Mills succeeds Sarah White as Miss New Hampshire

It was like mother, like daughter at the Miss New Hampshire pageant, as Brooke Mills was crowned the 2023 winner Saturday night.

The final at the Stockbridge Theatre in Derry saw Mills, who lives in Concord and represents Bedford, carry on a family tradition. Her mother, Stephanie Foisy Mills, was Miss New Hampshire 1995.

4th runner-up was Reilly O'Neil (Miss Merrimack), Megan Soucy (Miss Capital Area) was 3rd runner-up, 2nd runner-up was Emily Spencer (Miss Rockingham County), and 1st runner-up was Morgan Torre (Miss Portsmouth).

On her Facebook page, Mills said $80,000 in scholarships were awarded during Saturday's pageant. She thanked the state pageant's Board of Directors and volunteers for providing the opportunity for her to achieve a childhood dream.

"There are not enough words to describe how elated, humbled, and extremely honored I am to have been given the job of Miss New Hampshire 2023. This has been a dream I have continually worked towards since starting in the @teen national princess program," Mills wrote on Sunday morning.

"New Hampshire, you have my heart & I will serve you everyday with my heart on my sleeve," Mills wrote.

Mills succeeds Sarah White as Miss New Hampshire, and will represent the state at the Miss America pageant in December at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.

Miss America Organization CEO Robin Fleming was also at the pageant.

Mills is studying at the Sherman College of Chiropractic in South Carolina, and earned a bachelors degree in neurobiology and behavior from UNH, according to her LinkedIn page.

More Than Just a Crown

During the preliminary rounds, Mills won the evening wear competition wearing the same red dress she wore when she was named the pageant winner.

During Saturday night's pageant, she was asked if there were a style from the past she would bring back. Her response was to bring back the Forever Miss Hampshires in a valuable way.

"So many young girls across the state have been impacted in massive ways by this organization and we need to make sure we're keeping them in contact. They are becoming local leaders. They're becoming advocates and recruiting contestants for this organization so that we can continue to build this sisterhood and this organization," Mills said.

Asked by judge Shawna about how she would recruit a potential competitor into the Miss New Hampshire Scholarship Program, Mills talked the confidence and skills the programs brings over a lifetime and the scholarships.

"I grew up as a really shy, young girl unable to read at grade level until the 8th grade and this organization gave me those role models to push myself and succeed in life," Mills said. "I've received over $50,000 from this organization and it is absolutely limitless. I hope as Miss New Hampshire I am able to help collect more scholarship dollars so that we're able to award $100,000 again."

Contact reporter Dan Alexander at Dan.Alexander@townsquaremedia.com or via Twitter @DanAlexanderNH