"I originally did it as a joke," admits Cook, about applying for the Miss Teenage Canada title. "I'm not a pageant type of girl, but I submitted a photo, a short bio of myself and my volunteer work."
Soon after, the 18-year-old received a call, completed a series of interviews, and was then awarded the Miss Teenage Central Nova Scotia title.
"I was very surprised, and even my family was surprised I did it," she said. "I'm not a very girly girl, and had recently applied for the military."
By being accepted to the national pageant, Cook is seeking sponsors or donors to help her get to Toronto for a week-and-a-half in August for the competition.
Cook is looking to raise the $2,000 admission fee, plus airfare.
While at the competition, she will compete in both a swimsuit and formal wear category, while tackling a television and radio spot.
"It's very public speaking based," she said about the pageant. "I'm really looking forward to meeting new people, and raising money for charities. I'm really excited about that."
Through Miss Teenage Canada, Cook is able to fundraise for Free the Children, the main focus of the organization. Free the Children embraces leadership and children helping children throughout the world.
"But we're also allowed to go off and fundraise on my own, and I'll be focusing on bettering children's lives through the IWK Children's Hospital and Guatemala relief through my church, Immaculate Conception."
Her platform at the pageant is promoting equality of all sexualities, races, disabilities and identifications.
Cook, who is also heading to Saskatoon at the end of the month for a national Skills Canada competition, has been to Guatemala twice on relief missions. She also gets involved in judo, drawing and dancing, and has dreams of becoming an animator.
"With animation, you can also do training exercises for the military, so I hope to do something like that ...and Disney. That's my goal," she said.
Anyone wishing to sponsor Cook or donate to her charity funds can contact her at 902-890-9216 or [email protected]. She also has an Instagram account (missteenagecentralns_2015), a Twitter account (ns_cen) and Facebook account (MissTeenCentralNS2015).
Twitter: @TDNRaissa
