Junior Abagayle Hilton recently won the Maryland State Voice of Democracy championship in Lanham, Maryland and is moving on to the national competition.

The Voice of Democracy is funded and sponsored by Veterans of Foreign Wars and every year one student from 9^th grade to 12^th grade will win a $30,000 scholarship for his or her college endeavors. This year’s theme is, “Why I’m Optimistic About our Nation’s Future.”

Hilton’s speech, “We the People” was written and recorded shortly after she entered the competition in November 2013. Abby said, “I was not even sure how far I would get [in the competition].” Hilton has won three local competitions and $1,700. Now she will represent Maryland in the national competition in Washington D.C where she will be competing against other state winners. Hilton will leave for the competition in D.C. on Sunday March 2^nd and will stay until Monday March 4^th.  

Hilton’s favorite part of her speech is when she repeated the line saying “We the people.” Hilton believes it gave the speech more cohesion and conveyed the message that the contributions of all Americans are the reason everyone should be optimistic about our Nation’s future.

Mrs. Carmen Hilton’s favorite part was a toss-up between the quote from John Locke and the line about the citizen who mowed the lawn around the Washington Monument.

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Abby used John Locke’s quote, “Natural liberty of man is to be free from any superior power on earth, and not to be under the will of legislative authority of man, but to have only the law of nature for his rule.”

Mr. Allan Yetter, the VFW Post Commander liked Abby’s anecdote about the American citizen who mowed the lawn around the Washington Monument because the Veterans were coming the next day. Mrs. Hilton thinks that powerful images like these may have helped Abby win.

Yetter also said, “Abby’s speech was very different from her competitors, and the judges were impressed with the fluctuations in Abby’s voice.”

Hilton said, “I am not nervous moving on to the national competition because they could not take back what I have already won.”

Mrs. Hilton said, “I am excited for Abby to move on so that she can meet and talk to other people from around the country.”

Hilton said that she had no grand expectations when she entered the competition. She and her mom were browsing the internet for any type of college scholarship when they stumbled upon the Voice of Democracy website.

Her teachers are not surprised by her speaking excellence.  Hilton’s 9^th grade English teacher, Mrs. Natalie Rebetsky said, “Abby was always mature beyond her years, and she is a great writer. So I think the judges saw how high her confidence level was. Also, her speaking skills are very highly developed and very convincing.  She could go on stage and you would think she had done it a 100 times before.”

Hilton has made honor roll for three years and received the Science and English departmental awards. She is also a vocalist for youth praise team, a babysitter, a tour guide at the National Aquarium and is a certified scuba diver.

Danielle Hayes, a sophomore at Mercy High School in California, won the Voice of Democracy national competition last year with her speech, “Is Our Constitution Still Relevant?”

The theme for the 2014-2015 competition is, “Why Veterans are Important to our Nation’s History and Future.”