Pike County’s Junior Miss Kelly Cash is in Montgomery this week representing Pike County in the Alabama Junior Miss Program.

Kelly left Troy Friday for Montgomery and is staying with her host family at Pike Road.

“Kelly is very excited about the opportunity to represent Pike County at the Alabama Junior Miss Program,” said her mom, Jane Cash. “She was looking forward to meeting the other 51 girls from all over the state who are representing their home communities.”

The participants in the Alabama Junior Miss Program aren’t allowed to have contact with their families and friends during the week of the program but their busy schedules won’t allow much time to miss family and home.

“Just about every minute is planned for them,” Cash said. “One day they will have lunch with the Alabama Cattlemen’s Association and another day with the Montgomery Kiwanis Club. They will go to the Montgomery Zoo and they will also visit one of the elementary schools in Montgomery. The other times, they will be rehearsing.”

The preliminaries of the Alabama Junior Miss Program will be at 7:30 p.m. Friday, Jan. 15 and, at 1 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 16. The finals of the 2010 Alabama Junior Miss Program will be at 7 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 16.

All 52 girls will be showcased in a routine at the preliminaries. They will break into groups for the talent, physical fitness and self-expression portions of the program.

“The girls will alternate between Friday night and Saturday afternoon in the preliminary competitions,” Cash said. “They will be given a question on stage and they will all have the same question.”

The 2010 Alabama Junior Miss Program will be at Frazer United Methodist Church on the Atlanta Highway in Montgomery.

Tickets for the preliminaries are $17 and $30 for the finals.

The proceeds from the Junior Miss Program provide the funding for the scholarships that are awarded in the different areas of competition.

America’s Junior Miss Program was founded in 1958 and is headquartered in Mobile.  More than 700,000 young women from across the nation have participated in Junior Miss programs at the local, state, and national levels.

In addition to cash scholarships, Junior Miss participants are eligible for college-granted scholarships from nearly 200 colleges and universities.

The mission of America’s Junior Miss is to empower outstanding high school women by providing scholarship opportunities, developing life skills, and encouraging positive values and impacting the lives of all young people through the “Be Your Best Self” outreach program.