[Bill Hemmer, Cnn Morning News Co-host:] There is a new Miss Teen U.S.A. now. Her name is Jillian Parry. She's from Newtown, Pennsylvania. Jillian won the crown last weekend. She's got a busy year straight ahead for her, and she's live today in New York. Good morning to you.
[Jillian Parry, Miss Teen U.s.a:] Good morning. How are you?
[Hemmer:] I'm doing just fine, thank you very much, and congratulations as well.
[Parry:] Thank you.
[Hemmer:] In your family you're the third of four girls and you...
[Parry:] Yes.
[Hemmer:] ... had a very interesting thing growing up. You helped to raise seeing-eye dogs. How did that work?
[Parry:] Well, we started raising seeing-eye dogs when we saw an article in the newspaper. We were going to get a dog but we didn't know if we could handle the responsibility. So we thought if we raised the dog for a year and it didn't work out, we could give it back. But we fell in love with the program when we tried it, so we raised about 13 dogs...
[Hemmer:] Is that right?
[Parry:] ... and we're going to raise another one this year.
[Hemmer:] Oh, that's super, good deal. Over the next year I know you're going to be talking a lot and especially to the young kids. What's going to be your message when you go to what's expected to be at least 100 schools over the next 12 months?
[Parry:] Well, the Miss Teen U.S.A.'s official cause is education and drug-prevention awareness. So I'll be working closely with the D.A.R.E. program, speaking to classrooms around the country.
[Hemmer:] And how old are you?
[Parry:] I'm 18.
[Hemmer:] You're 18. Headed for college next year, right?
[Parry:] Yes, I am. I'm a freshman at Penn State this year.
[Hemmer:] All right, good Penn State, OK. And what are you studying?
[Parry:] I'm majoring in biobehavioral health. It's biology, psychology and genetics all rolled into one.
[Hemmer:] What do you think can come out of this, Jillian now the fact that you've won and you're off and running?
[Parry:] Well, I'm looking forward to having a lot of fun but also doing a lot of hard work that will hopefully make a difference for everybody.
[Hemmer:] And what kind of example do you hope to set?
[Parry:] Definitely a positive role model who believes I believe in my cause a lot, so that's what's going to help me the most, because I believe in education, I believe in staying in school, and obviously I believe in staying away from drugs, and I really want to help.
[Hemmer:] All right. And you say you just entered this just for fun...
[Parry:] Yes
[Hemmer:] ... now you're the winner. That's great. Hey, enjoy your year, congratulations again.
[Parry:] Thank you. Thank you very much.
[Hemmer:] Jillian Parry, Miss Teen U.S.A., live in New York, thank you.