Parents: Stam dreamt of Ms. America win

SEYMOUR, Ind. - Katie Stam is the first Miss America from the Hoosier state. Her parents said it's a moment Stam has dreamed of for years.

Stam was just 15 years old when she walked the stage in the Jackson County Miss Teen pageant. It was her first pageant and her first crown. But her parents, Keith and Tracy Stam, said her dream of winning pageants started many years earlier.

"About when she was three years old her and her cousin Janell used to play beauty pageants and they used to dress up in bridal gowns and make crowns out of cereal boxes. She still has one of the sashes that they made. It says, 'Miss America'," said Tracy Stam.

So, for Katie, it was a dream come true to simply represent Indiana in the 2009 Miss America pageant.

"Yes, most definitely. Katie has a lot of confidence regardless of what happens. She was going there and she was going to do her best, however it turned out," said Tracy.

And it was looking good. As the night went on, the pageant emcee kept calling her name, until the final three.

"Those other two girls, they had everything too. And you are just thinking 'Could it possibly come true?' Then they call her name then you just kind of go numb," described Keith Stam.

Keith was numb, but Tracy cried tears of joy. Then the proud parents went back stage.

"She just kind of looked at me like 'Can you believe this is really happening?'," said Keith.

Seymour residents believe it. They've gone Katie crazy.

The Stams say Katie does come from a family of royalty.

"My mother was the prom queen in her class. My sisters were both queens as well," said Tracy.

Keith Stam is the choir teacher at Seymour High School. That's where Katie gets her music ability. Her mother is a fifth grade teacher at Emmanuel Lutheran School in Seymour.

Now they are all celebrities in their hometown.