Hallie Vecsey, an 11th-grade student at Foley High School, has long dreamed of becoming a singer-songwriter and captivating audiences with the echoing emotion of her original music.

This year, that dream will come true in the form of a musical collaboration with film students at Madison County High School in northern Alabama.

Earlier this year, Madison students approached the Foley music program earlier this year to write an original song to be paired with a film they were working on for the All American High School Film Festival in New York City.

Not long after agreeing to the collaboration, there was a twist; the song would be judged by none other than Grammy award winner John Legend.

Vecsey said she was told they wanted a female indie-pop singer to write a song with themes of abandonment, and she soon got to work creating a song drawn from her own life experiences.

"My song is called 'All about you' and is inspired by artists I look up to, like Olivia Rodrigo," Vecsey said. "I was going through a tough time with a boy, and then suddenly the lyrics started popping in my head."

Vecsey said she knew little about the competition at the time and was shocked to hear who would judge her song.

"I had no idea where it would go at all, and then a little while later we got the information that it would be in a competition in New York," Vecsey said. "And we learned the person who would judge the music portion is John Legend."

Vecsey, who wrote her first song in eighth grade, said she usually creates the chords of a song before putting the pen to paper to write lyrics.

"This is the fastest song I've ever written. It took one day," Vecsey said. "I always write from my heart, and I want the people listening to and understand how I feel in the moment, and know they aren't alone."

Vecsey said much of her writing is influenced by other artists, specifically Taylor Swift, Shawn Mendes and The Vamps.

In addition to songwriting for the film, Vecsey also writes original music for student led band The Noise.

"As of right now, I'm the only one who has written original music for the group," Vecsey said. "I've been in the theater program, but last year Mr. O'Cain came up to me and asked if I wanted to join the class. I joined the music production course spontaneously, and it all just came to be."

The results of the film competition will be announced on July 21.