[1] Having skipped the third grade, Cooper graduated one year early from Okemos High School in 2019, where she was the captain of her varsity volleyball team and also played basketball and ran track.

[1] After graduating, she moved to West Point, New York to enroll in the United States Military Academy (USMA).

[5] Prior to becoming Miss USA, Cooper planned to serve as a second lieutenant in the Military Intelligence Corps of the United States Army after completing her degree at Stanford.

[9][4] Cooper was cited by the West Point Association of Graduates as the first active-duty officer in the United States Army to compete for the Miss Michigan USA title.

Cooper entered and won Miss USA on August 4, 2024, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles,[11][12] against 50 other contestants.