When junior broadcast journalism major Kendall Morris won Miss Texas, she said her life changed from that of a normal college student to one with very little time to herself.

“The job of Miss Texas is truly a 24-hour job,” Morris said. “I don’t have any regular days off. I may get one or two days off a month and so that’s been a change of pace for me.”

She said she immediately started doing public appearances, started a school program called “All Across Texas” and began her platform “Leukemia Living for a Cure.” Morris said she personally chose her platform, which all pageant winners are required to do, because her dad was diagnosed with leukemia when she was 16 years old and she wanted to raise awareness and help in any way she could.

So she partnered with the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society and has been an official spokesperson for its school and youth programs, she said. She also spoke on the society’s behalf and several events she attended.

Besides her Miss Texas duties, she also had to start getting physically ready for the Miss America Pageant. Morris said she immediately began shopping for wardrobe, meeting with a trainer and practicing her modeling and mock interview skills.

Though her life became hectic extremely fast, Morris said she received a lot of support from her friends and family throughout the competition.

Among those people was her self-proclaimed “good luck charm” Kelsey Craig. The junior theater major said she had been to several of Morris’ pageants, the first one of which was in her freshman year.

Kendall started out as my roommate freshman year, so every pageant I had been to since then she had won up until Miss America,” Craig said.

Morris said she felt prepared to take on the duties that came with becoming Miss Texas, but the pageant still came as big change of pace.

The hardest part for her, she said, was the lack of sleep. She and the other Miss America contestants had to be up and ready in full makeup by 6 a.m.

“I miss probably sleeping in my bed at home,” Morris said. “I know that’s pretty silly and I’ve been away at college for a couple of years so I shouldn’t miss it as much, but I haven’t gotten to see my parents as often as I would have liked.”

Morris made it to the top 10 contestants in the Miss America Pageant but fell short when the top five were announced. Though she may not have won, both she and her supporters were extremely proud.

“Just to think that I made it to the Miss America stage and to the top 10, that was a true accomplishment in my mind,” Morris said. “Because over 9,000 girls started off competing for the title of Miss America last year and I was in the top 53 to make it to that stage.”

Craig said winning Miss Texas had been a dream of Morris’ ever since her freshman year, so making it to the top 10 of Miss America was an incredible accomplishment.

“I know that when she looks back 20 years from now she is going to be so proud of everything that she accomplished,” Craig said.

Morris said she would never be allowed to compete for Miss Texas or Miss America again because of pageant regulations, so she was finished with pageants.

“While there are other pageant systems, I don’t think anything could top the experience I have had as Miss Texas,” she said. “So I’m going to stop with pageants and come back to TCU, which I’m pretty excited about.”