Halima Aden first came to the United States when she was 7, after her family left the refugee camp in Kenya where Aden was born.
Since settling into Minnesota’s growing Somali community — according to census data, the largest such community in the U.S. — Aden has thrived and is currently attending Saint Cloud University.
But the 19-year-old’s current claim to fame is the fact that she’ll be competing in the Miss Minnesota beauty pageant this weekend (Nov. 26–27) in a hijab, burkini, and other fully covering garb — a first for the state.
Aden has broken barriers before. She was the first Somali-American in her college student government and was also crowned homecoming queen at her high school. “When I see that there hasn’t already been somebody, I take that as a challenge for me to give it a try,” she told the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Her decision is perhaps a bit more complex since not everyone in her community supports it, most notably her own mother.

Aden poses at St. Cloud State University in St. Cloud, Minn. (Alishba Kazmi via AP)