Miss America 2012: Meet the contestants! Well, 5 of them

The 2012 Miss America pageant is slated for Saturday, Jan. 14 -- broadcast live from Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino in Las Vegas. But it's never too soon to start studying the contestants. Luckily, the Miss America organization put videos from each hopeful Miss on its website. In fact, pageant fans can even vote for their favorite contestant between now and Jan. 12.

In the spirit of introducing this year's crop of 53 contestants, we'll be featuring five (or so) in regular posts between now and Jan. 12. So go ahead, settle in and spend some time with Miss Alabama, Miss Alaska, Miss Arizona, Miss Arkansas and Miss California.

Miss Alabama Courtney Porter says she comes from a state of winners:



Miss Alaska Katy Lovegreen is kind of a nerd. But we like it!



Miss Arizona Jennifer Sedler is studying to be a pediatric oncologist, so it's handy that she's so good at playing with blocks:



Miss Arkansas Kristen Glover is a chemist and not at all related to Crispin Glover:



Miss California Noelle Freedman has an iPad and knows how to use it: