Allison Elizabeth Cook, 19, from Klamath Falls is representing Oregon this week in the 2014 Miss America pageant in Atlantic City, N.J.
The final round of preliminary competition in the pageant will be held tonight, and the new Miss America will be crowned Sunday night in the nationally televised finale
from Boardwalk Hall (6 p.m., ABC).
Miss Oregon, a junior at the Oregon Institute of Technology in Klamath Falls, is both the youngest competitor this year and the tallest at 6 feet, 1 inch.
Cook is studying radiologic science and plans to become a MRI technician and specialize in brain trauma. Her platform at the pageant is promoting awareness of athletic concussion.
She's not a pageant pro, she says, and was an athlete in high school (in Granite Bay, Calif.) and college. This is her first visit to the East Coast, and her first experience with real humidity.
The Miss America pageant began in Atlantic City in 1921, and returns after a six-year run in Las Vegas.
-- JoLene Krawczak