Miss California talks growing up in SoCal, representing state at Miss America pageant

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Miss California Bree Morse is the pride of the state. With her fourth pageant title, as Miss Orange Coast, Morse is vying for the Miss America title this week in Atlantic City, New Jersey.

She grew up in Garden Grove and attended Long Beach State. And Morse says it's the support from her family that has helped her every step of the way.

"They've always been the most amazing people," said Morse. "My dad was a truck driver and owned a trucking company and my mom was P.T.A. president and was always there with us. And so we grew up really as a tight-knit family, and they've been there since day one."

Mom and dad do have some competition for her affection, though. Morse says her cat, Stanley, is her No. 1 fan.

Morse's No. 1 talent is tap dancing. And if she makes it to the interview portion of the pageant, she says being honest and heartfelt, but politically correct, is key.

"They want you to state your opinion but to do in a graceful way," said Morse. "It's empowering that we, as women, have opinions and can say them openly on a stage in front of millions of people. But what's more important than that is to say it in a way that's graceful, intelligent and poised so that people don't get offended too much."

Morse looks forward to soon having a pageant friend in every state. But she's most proud of representing her home state.

"I grew up in Southern California going to Huntington Beach on the weekends, so I'm really familiar with the coastal kind of surfer, Surf City USA, California," said Morse. "But going up north and seeing all the trees and the different weather and just the richness and cultural diversity that is San Francisco and those other places really makes me feel so lucky and feel like I can have a step-up on the competition when I go to Miss America because I know what it's like to live in such a diverse place, and it's almost kind of like a small scale America."

You can watch Morse's journey to the 2016 Miss America Pageant this Sunday at 9 p.m. on ABC.