The Wilbur H. Bailey Memorial Post #5872 of the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) traveled to Wortham High School on Friday, December 6, to honor three of their students. The VFW members recognized the winners of the 2019-2020 VFW’s Voice of Democracy contest from Wortham High School. Ben Havens won First place, Samantha Lee won Second, and Mika-Lyn Gargis won Third. All of the winners from Freestone County were students of Wortham High School.
The topic of this year’s contest was “What Makes America Great?” The contestants were required to write and record their speech to enter. During the presentation, the First Place winner, Ben Havens, read his speech aloud to the audience. Presenting the awards from Fairfield were Mr. Charles Morgan, Jr. Vice Commander, Mr. James Tyus, Post #5872 Commander, Lawyer Jones, 2nd year committee member for the speech contest, and Robbie Robertson, Quartermaster.
Along with a plaque documenting their winning speeches, the students also received a check for their efforts. Mr. Morgan praised Wortham High School for their continued participation in their Voice of Democracy Contest.
“Wortham High School has participated in our Voice of Democracy Contest for many years, and it usually has at least one or two winners every year,” according to Mr. Morgan. In fact, Havens and Lee have placed in the contest every year at the high school level.
Wortham High School would like to thank the Veterans of Foreign Wars for hosting this contest each year. High School Principal, Mr. David Hayes, stated, “This VFW contest continues to remind our students of the importance of remembering our veterans, our history, and our need to participate in our democratic process, even as students.”
