San Bernardino Resident Nicholas Sablan has a "Voice of Democracy"

San Bernardino resident Nicholas Sablan was recently selected as the Winner of the District 3 Voice of Democracy (VOD) Scholarship Program. The VOD Program is designed to give high school students (grades 9-12) an opportunity to formally express their democratic concerns, ideas, and principles while tying it back to their own expressions and beliefs. Each participant is required to write an essay regarding the given topic, this year’s being “My Vision for America”. The essay must be in print and in audio form therefore, they must record their speech. According to Sablan’s mother Jeanne, they judge the speech on all levels: content and the way each participant presents it via audio essay. “Each year there is a different topic, but it’s always broad because they really want to see what [the participants] have to say,” Jeanne explained. The speech must be 3 to 5 minutes long. Sablan has been interested in politics pretty much his whole life, according to Jeanne. This is his sixth year competing in the VOD Program. He started in middle school but the competition was called “Patriot’s pen” and it’s modified for the younger group of participants. Sablan’s, Junior at Cajon High School, first step in the competition was the San Bernardino Post 8737 in which he was named the winner. The next step was District 3. “He usually wins the Post level, but this is his first time going to the State level,” she said. “So this is a really big deal.” The next step for Sablan is the State level which includes an all-expense paid trip to Sacramento which will include a banquet to announce the VOD’s State winner, a meet and greet with the Governor and various hours of site-seeing throughout Sacramento. “He’s very interested in Politics/Political Science,” Jeanne shared. The Cajon Junior has a few colleges in mind but has about a year to decide on future choices before graduating. Sablan shared, "I am highly honored to have been selected for this prestigious opportunity. While there are several people who have assisted me throughout this competition, such as my parents, there is one man who is a member of my local VFW post that has been there to help me for over five years. Mr. Rudy Guzman, Quartermaster of Post 8737, has coordinated the Patriot's Pen and Voice of Democracy essay competitions for several years in his San Bernardino VFW. Ever since I participated in the Patriot's Pen in middle school, he has given me priceless advice and handed me the tools to get where I am today. Without Rudy Guzman's tireless support and helping-hand, I would never have made it this far. He is not only a great asset to his individual post, or the entire VFW, but to the lives of every young man and woman that participates in the essay contests."