Twenty-one-year-old Baylee Drewry is the current Miss Wyoming. She was raised in Greybull and will graduate from the University of Wyoming with a degree in history this December. She’s also about to represent the Equality State in the Miss America competition in Orlando, Florida at the start of the new year.
Wyoming Public Radio’s Hannah Habermann chatted with Drewry about sports, mental health and what a day in the life of Miss Wyoming is actually like.
Editor’s note: This interview was edited lightly for brevity and clarity.
Baylee Drewry: Basically, a day in the life of Miss Wyoming on Tuesdays and Thursdays is waking up at 5:30 a.m., doing my morning preparation and then going to school from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
I am always traveling as Miss Wyoming, so Friday, Saturday, Sunday, Monday – that is my prime time, being Miss Wyoming on the job, all the time.
An interesting fact about being Miss Wyoming is in the month of June, I was only laying in my bed seven days out of the entire month. I was traveling the rest of the days, but I'm super grateful for it. It's a once in a lifetime opportunity.
Hannah Habermann: You played on your high school football team, you were wrestling team captain and you've got your campaign called “Supporting Girls and Women in Sports.” For you, what's the role of sports in a thriving community?
BD: I always played sports growing up, as far as I can remember. I was always playing a sport. I was actually born in California, moved here when I was 13 years old, so that would have been my eighth grade year of middle school.
And with that, I lost a sense of community and through sports was the way that I could find community again. I had horrible struggles with bullying all through high school. So it was really important to me to find outlets outside of school so that I can have friends, I can feel accomplished, move my body.
The role of sports for me was really providing a sense of safety and I think that's the same for a lot of the girls that I coach as well.
HH: Let's talk a little bit about mental health. Both Miss USA and Miss Teen USA resigned from their roles earlier this year, citing mental health challenges. Has this role for you as Miss Wyoming had any impacts on your mental health? And do you think pageants need to change at all to better support the health of the contestants?
BD: First thing I do want to clarify is that Miss USA and Miss America are two separate entities. But I do not shy away from this question at all, I just want to clarify that those are two different organizations.
Ultimately, we are all human beings, and I think sometimes that gets lost when you have girls getting on stage who are extremely gorgeous, extremely talented, and we're expected to be perfect all of the time.
And I think that can be really, really challenging. In the case of the Miss USA girls that stepped down, that is their decision. And we as a community need to support that a hundred percent.
When I was growing up, a Miss USA, Cheslie Kryst, actually committed suicide, citing mental health issues. And she was actually a very big role model to me and part of losing her made everybody take a step back and go, ‘What do we do to support these strong and independent women?’
I think a part of pageantry is one, we portray out to the world that we have all of our ducks in a row, right? But we also are human, too. And sometimes you get knocked back a couple of steps, and that's okay. I think we as a pageant community need to start embracing that.
HH: What are the ways that you’re trying to advocate for better mental health in your role?
BD: What I do with all of my teams [is] the first day of practice, I give them a piece of paper asking them what their names are, what’s their favorite color, what's their favorite snack. But then at the end I say, “Are you experiencing bullying or mental health problems?”
I fully acknowledge that some of the girls are probably not going to be open and honest on that paper, but I hope that through that piece of paper that I give them on the first day of practice, they know my coach is somebody that I could come to if I decide to open up about it.
HH: From your perspective as a University of Wyoming student, what is the school doing well to support students on campus? And what do you think it could be doing better or differently?
BD: I am somebody who has, since I came here, utilized the free counseling that we have on campus.
Us college students don't have a lot of money and I'm right there with you. I understand that. So to be able to have free counseling and just feel like this is not a burden on my family, this isn't a burden on myself, I think that's really beautiful and something that we should talk about more.
Something that we can do better? I think we just need to be advertising more. I think students need to know it's not a failure to say, “Hey, I'm struggling.” That's really hard to get over, especially in the Cowboy State, where we persevere through anything. That's something beautiful about our state.
We also just need to advertise more as much as possible, “Hey, we have these resources and it's okay to say I'm not okay.”
HH: Switching gears a little bit, there's been a lot of concern about young people leaving Wyoming and not coming back. What do you think could help prevent this so-called brain drain in the state?
BD: One of the things that I love about our state is our financial aid to our school systems. I am riding on mostly scholarships for my whole entire academic career in college, So I haven't really had to pay that much out of pocket. If we want to keep kids in the state, then we need to provide for them financially to be able to get the degrees that they want.
I think also another thing is that we need to create more jobs in the state of Wyoming, [so] that when our kids and when our students graduate with this degree that they have fought so hard for, that they're not looking out-of-state because out-of-state pays better, has better benefits, has better communities for their kids to grow up and in a safe environment or have good schooling opportunities, whatever the case may be.
There is a before graduation problem of keeping our students in the state of Wyoming, but also we need to keep our young adults in the state of Wyoming. And I believe that's through jobs.
HH: Going off of that, do you plan to stay in Wyoming after graduation? And what sort of future do you hope for here for yourself?
BD: I know that right after graduation, I probably won't be staying here in Wyoming, but that is because I have decided that the path for me is to become a JAG in the United States Air Force, which is a lawyer in the United States Air Force. So that will most likely be leading me to travel.
However, I do know that Wyoming has my heart and Wyoming is a place that I believe is so beneficial to raise a family. So I know that coming back to Wyoming is going to be in my deck of cards for sure.
HH: Before we sign off, anything else you'd like to add?
BD: I think what's so beautiful about the Miss America opportunity is we want to create strong leaders of tomorrow, and that is through education. Every girl who stepped off the Miss Wyoming stage this year stepped off the stage with a scholarship.
I think if this is something you might be interested in, give us a chance. Let us try and get you to come back. I think it's a beautiful opportunity to make friends and just be a leader in your communities, so look us up for sure.
Like Drewry said – it’s ok to ask for help when you’re struggling. If you or someone you know is experiencing a mental health crisis, you can call or text 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline.
