History was made Saturday during the Miss Minnesota USA pageant when the beauty competition included its first contestant with Down syndrome.

Mikayla Holmgren became the first woman with Down syndrome to compete in the beauty pageant. The 22-year-old is from Stillwater, Minnesota -- which is nearly 30 miles west of Minneapolis.

Not only was Holgrem overjoyed to simply compete, but she also went home with two awards: Spirit of Miss USA Award and the Director's Award.

"I was super shocked, I was in tears," Holmgren told BuzzFeed News late Sunday night. "I went from a special needs pageant to the biggest pageant in the world. It's kind of crazy."

Aside from beauty pageants, Holmgren is currently a junior at Bethel University's Inclusive Learning and Development program and is involved with the university's child care center. She is also the ambassador for Best Buddies, a non-profit whose mission is to create opportunities for those with various disabilities.

The Miss Minnesota beauty pageant is no stranger to breaking barriers, in fact, nearly one year ago the pageant included its first contestant to wear a hijab for all rounds.

Since her first appearance in the beauty contest, 20-year-old Halima Aden, signed a modeling contract with IMG Models and appeared on the cover of Vogue in June.

These are great steps for diversity within beauty pageants, however, plus-sized model Ashley Graham criticized the Miss Universe pageant for lack of "curvy girls".

"I think that it’s really important that we continue to show diversity of all sizes, ethnicities, backgrounds and religion," Graham said in a Fox News interview Friday. "So for me, I’m here to show diversity of size! Because not yet have we had a curvy girl in Miss Universe or even in the Miss USA pageant."

"If you can see a curvy girl on the cover of Sports Illustrated or Vogue, then we can definitely see a curvy girl as Miss Universe," she continued.

Miss Universe aired on Sunday and crowned Miss South Africa Demi-Leigh Nel Peters.

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