Speakers

For the first time in several years Maine will participate in the Miss Teen International competition, held in Charleston, West Virginia, with a Wilton girl taking the lead.

Valerianne Hinkley, a sophomore at Mt. Blue High School, will be heading south this July to continue her pageant journey after winning the state title two weeks ago. Preparing for the competition started a year ago, when Hinkley realized it was something she wanted to pursue.

“I really wanted to do things with platforms and they help a lot with that. I really wanted to spread my message, which is “Be Bold: Stand up to Bullying,””Hinkley said.

Hinkley’s advocacy against bullying started on its own, before her interest in pageants, but having support from the program has helped shine a light on her mission. Hinkley said she experienced severe bullying herself while at Mt. Blue, and doesn’t want others to go through what she did.

“I was missing a lot of school because of the bullying, and then I realized that wasn’t who I was. So I decided to make people aware of the issue instead,” she said.