When someone flips a light switch, light floods the room. People can reach in the fridge and pull out a cold Dr. Pepper or push a button to make hot or cold air rush through vents in the ceiling. Americans can forget many parts of the world do not have this luxury, and senior Bailey McClure uses her public speaking skills to remind them.

McClure recently won a speech competition hosted by Swisher Electric Co-Op in Tulia and awarded an all-expense paid trip to Washington D.C. Electric companies across the country host similar competitions, sending students with exceptional speaking skills to Washington D.C. and giving them the opportunity to meet with state representatives about the global need for electricity. McClure said she realized the importance of electricity while discussing it with her grandmother.

“We all know electricity makes our life better,” McClure said. “My grandma had two brothers that were in the war when they had their first electric radio. When they could listen to where soldiers were in the war, it gave the family some peace of mind.”

Inspired by her grandmother’s story, McClure said she combined her strengths in English and art in order to create the best possible speech.

“I feel like communication is a combination of something that’s artistic and technical,” McClure said. “It incorporates English and form, and it incorporates my interest in art, which I really like. Speech is a good way to say something you cannot say any other way.”

McClure also spoke from experience in her speech, describing her life in the Caribbean.

“I talked about how even though it was part of the United States, it was still a territory and the electricity is not stable, so there were a lot of times we did not have electricity,” McClure said. “When I lived there we lived on a sailboat, and we never had a refrigerator.”

McClure said people in western culture should not forget how fortunate they are to have basic needs such as electricity.

“You don’t realize how much you lack until you gain it,” McClure said. “I would visit the states and see the difference in living a Western lifestyle versus a place in poverty and less developed area. Being here for just a short period of time makes me less grateful for those things. It’s easy to forget we are fortunate.”