Hailey Gray was crowned Miss Sandhills’ Teen 2027 on Oct. 3 at the T. Austin Finch Auditorium in Thomasville, N.C.
Gray does not dance or play an instrument. Her talent is a HERStory titled “Our Voices Have the Power!” drawn from her experience of losing her voice to hyperfunctional dysphonia and learning to find her confidence again, and by her own account her voice is the talent she has to share. The same thread runs through her community service initiative, which is built around reading aloud to children and putting free books in their hands.
“My Community Service Initiative, ‘Hailey’s Hope,’ was inspired by my love of helping others and my belief that everyone can make a difference,” Gray said. “I wanted an initiative that would allow me to serve wherever the need is greatest and help people in many different ways.”
Gray is from Denton, N.C., and is a sophomore at South Davidson High School, dual enrolled through Career & College Promise (CCP) at Davidson-Davie Community College. Her initiative’s first project is a “Hailey’s Hope” Little Free Library, made from an old newspaper box and placed outside the South Davidson Family Resource Center, where she keeps it stocked with books, bookmarks and what she calls Reading Buddies. She is starting a second library at a preschool in her hometown.
“One moment from my service work that has really stayed with me was visiting a local daycare, reading stories to the little kids, and letting each of them pick out a book to take home,” Gray said. “That experience made me want to do even more.”
Her academic plan is already mapped out. Gray lists finishing at the top of her class and earning an Associate’s Degree in Science among her high school goals, followed by an undergraduate degree in Biology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill as a Morehead-Cain Scholar and veterinary study at North Carolina State University.
Gray held the title of Carolina Star 2023. Her answers describe this as her first year competing in the Miss America Opportunity.
Gray will represent Sandhills at the Miss North Carolina’s Teen competition in High Point in June 2027.
Gray can be followed on Instagram at @misssandhillsteen.
