Belt High senior Katy Smith was recently recognized as the district winner of the VFW speech competition known as the Voice of Democracy.
The Voice of Democracy is a national-level speech competition that is run by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. This competition allows the students to express themselves about the topics of democracy, freedom, and patriotism. The purpose of this helps students to build their public speaking and writing skills, encourage students to think about American values, honor veterans, promote patriotism, and give students the opportunity to earn scholarship money.
The Belt seniors participated in the school-level competition as an assignment within the Government class curriculum. This year’s nationwide speech competition was built on the prompt, “How Are You
Showing Patriotism and Support for Our Country?”
Katy Smith won the local competition, followed by Aaliyah Gaylord. Smith and Gaylord moved on to the next round of the competition, competing in District Two, which consists of schools including Havre, Great Falls, Shelby, Fort Benton, Fairfield, Belt, Chinook, Harlem, Conrad, and Sunburst.
Congratulations to Smith for winning the District Two contest. Smith will now advance to the state-level competition. The results will be announced soon. Three years ago, Taryn Lodge won the state-level competition and got a free trip to Washington D.C along with a cash prize.
By: Taylee Fox, The Valley Voice: January 16, 2026 – Belt, Mt
Author: Karen Anderson
Karen is the Editor-in-Chief overseeing all news operations at Foxys Publishing Co. She also loves photography and spending time with her dogs.
