Have you ever wondered what really goes on behind the scenes of the Miss America pageant? I caught up with my sorority sister and good friend Tori Cowen to get the inside scoop on the pageant in which she competed in a few weeks ago as Miss Florida.    

1. 30 minutes 
That’s the amount of time Cowen had between drinking glasses of water while training for the pageant. As the preliminary winner of the swimsuit competition, I asked Cowen about her diet and exercise plan and was shocked when she told me it was mostly all about drinking water. 

The water plan: When she first started training, she would drink four ounces of water every thirty minutes, but when it came time to prep for Miss America, it increased to eight to ten ounces every thirty minutes. Cowen said, “Surprisingly water was hardest thing because I usually don't drink a lot of water. Sometimes it felt like I was drowning. A lot of people put down swimsuit competitions, but I think of a swimsuit competition as a way for us to show dedication to health, which also shows dedication to other aspects of our lives." Cowen also did cardio and circuit exercises daily to get swimsuit ready for the competition.    

2. 94%
This is the percentage of women post-abortion who regret their decision. This was part of Cowen’s response to an interview question that asked how she would respond to a young girl who was pregnant and wanted to get an abortion. “Beauty pageants get a bad rep for being solely about looks. Most people don’t know we must be well informed about domestic and national events and issues for interview questions," said Cowen.

3. 2 minutes, 45 seconds
This is the amount of time Cowen had to change out of her gown and into her dance uniform for the talent portion of the competition after her name was called. Cowen said, “Most people don’t know how fast the changes have to be. As a dancer it was hard because I didn’t have the chance to warm up or pin my hair back. I had to stretch during the commercial break because I didn’t know if or when my name would be called.”

4. 20,000 miles
This is the average distance Miss America travels a month during her reigning year. Miss America doesn’t have a permanent home for the whole year and changes locations every 12-48 hours.

5. 4 hours
This is the average amount of sleep Cowen got each night while competing in the pageant. She told me, “By Sunday it had felt like two weeks of next-to-no sleep. I was mentally exhausted and only running on adrenaline but I would go back in a heartbeat if I could.”

Timeline of a typical day competing for Miss America:

Location: Washington, D.C.

6:00 a.m.: Wake up call

7:30 a.m.: Board the bus

9:00 a.m.: White House tour

11:00 a.m.:College campus tour

1:00 p.m.: Women in politics meeting

2:00 p.m.: Women empowerment series

4:00 p.m.: Networking event

5:00 p.m.: Visit the capital

6:00 p.m.: Dinner 

7:00 p.m.: Private charter plane ride to Atlantic City (where the pageant took place)

12:00 a.m.: Arrival in Atlantic City, NJ

2:00 a.m.: Arrival at hotel

5:00 a.m.: Rehearsals at the theater (for the opening number and the commercial)

“During the Miss America pageant, everything that could possibly go wrong does, so you just have to roll with the punches. I even accidentally broke my crown at one point," said Cowen.

As Miss Florida, Cowen is spending this year visiting Florida schools and speaking about her platform “One Chance One Choice.”  Her goal is to be a mentor for young girls statewide and hopes she can help them to set goals which in turn will help them make better life decisions. 

Have any questions for Tori? Feel free to email her at Missflorida2014@aol.com!