Miss America Is 'Mature Beyond Her Age'

Newly crowned Miss America, Teresa Scanlan, is very much a Miss: she is only 17 years old. Scanlan is the youngest contestant to win in over 70 years and her parents say they always knew she was wise beyond her years."She's certainly mature beyond her age," her father Mark Scanlan tells the The Lincoln Journal Star. "Most people take her for at least six years older."

Scanlan graduated early from Scottsbluff High School in the spring of 2010 after taking a double load of classes and has deferred enrollment until this fall for Patrick Henry College.Her mother Jamie added: "She's an independent young woman and always has been."

Some think being an old soul may have even hurt her in past pageants: "She didn't win because [the judges] thought she was too mature," Miss Nebraska co-executive director Jay Engel says. "Teresa is very, very well-spoken. She's very intelligent and talented."

The young beauty's platform was "Eating Disorders: A Generation at Risk" and her talent segment was piano, in which she blew viewers away with a rendition of "White Water Chopsticks" which some believed she composed at a professional level.Scanlan will appear on The View on Monday and ring the NASDAQ Stock Market bell on Tuesday.