A house RESOLUTION

 

To recognize and honor Shayla Bowers for her EXCEPTIONAL DISCIPLINE, ASPIRATIONS, AND TALENT THAT HAVE ENABLED HER TO REPRESENT THE PALMETTO STATE WITH DIGNITY AND POISE and to congratulate her for winning the title of Royalty USA Junior Teen 2025.

 

Whereas, the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives are pleased to learn that Shayla Bowers captured the title of Royalty USA Junior Teen 2025 at Twitchell Auditorium in Spartanburg on Sunday, November 17, 2024; and

 

Whereas, currently a seventh grade student at Pleasant Hill Middle School, Shayla is the daughter of Dr. Ebony Bowers and Mr. Jamey Bowers. Her win is historic because she is the first young lady to hold the national title of Junior Teen in the Royalty USA pageant system; and

 

Whereas, the mission of the Royalty USA National Scholarship Pageant is to enhance the lives of girls and young women by providing a family-oriented environment that creates lifelong friendships and encourages young girls and women to achieve their goals and to RISE, an acronym for the Royalty USA national motto: Reach, Inspire, Serve, and Empower; and

 

Whereas, the Royalty USA motto expresses the values that the organization celebrates, encouraging girls and women to embrace who they are and to reach for their goals and dreams, inspire others, serve and lead with compassion, and empower girls and women to be their personal best while promoting their own personal platforms and initiatives. Believing that true beauty comes from within, Royalty USA promotes good character, community service, and personal achievement; and

 

Whereas, Shayla's personal community service initiative is Shayla's Sanctuary, which incorporates three different yet related initiatives to promote loving and caring for people and animals. In the first initiative, she serves as the spokesperson of 4 Paws for Ability Junior Teen, promoting and raising funds for the organization that provides task-trained service dogs to differently abled military veterans and children; and

 

Whereas, the second initiative of Shayla's Sanctuary is sewing lap blankets and pillows for military veterans at Dorn Veterans Administration Hospital as an American Legion Auxiliary Junior member. She likes to send cards of encouragement to cancer patients and military veterans, as well. She also sews and provides blankets for Pets, Inc., a local rescue, rehabilitation, and rehoming animal shelter; and

 

Whereas, the third initiative of Shayla's Sanctuary is to feed and look after a total of fifty stray cats in her community with the help of her older sister Selena and their mother. Her community service work earned her a Golden President's Volunteer Service Award for performing over two hundred hours of community service; and

 

Whereas, with humble grace, Shayla is nationally representing her family, as well as the great State of South Carolina; Lexington County; the Town of Lexington; the Hill community; her family's church, St. Stephens Lutheran Church; and Lexington School District One. After graduating from Lexington High School, Shayla would like to attend Clemson University or Auburn University and to earn a degree in veterinary medicine; and

 

Whereas, the South Carolina House of Representatives is grateful for the active and meaningful service that Shayla Bowers has devoted to her community, and the members look forward to following her continued achievements in the days ahead. Now, therefore,

 

Be it resolved by the House of Representatives:

 

That the members of the South Carolina House of Representatives, by this resolution, recognize and honor Shayla Bowers for her exceptional discipline, aspirations, and talent that have enabled her to represent the Palmetto State with dignity and poise and congratulate her for winning the title of Royalty USA Junior Teen 2025.

 

Be it further resolved that a copy of this resolution be presented to Shayla Bowers.

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