High school students from Frisco and Little Elm have completed registering to compete in the upcoming 2020 American Legion Post 178 Oratorical Scholarship Contest. “We have had an overwhelming response this year from students to participate in our post’s constitutional speech contest. In fact, the number represents an all-time high in our post’s history,“ said Fred Rogers, Post 178 Commander. Contestant registration activities over the last two months were coordinated through high school counselor and teacher staffs.
The contest is open to qualified ninth (9th) through twelfth (12th) grade students of public, parochial, military, private, and state accredited home schools. The subject in the prepared oration portion of the contest must be on some aspect of the U.S. Constitution with emphasis to the attending duties and obligations of a citizen to our government. The prepared oration must be an original effort of each contestant and must be 8-10 minutes in length. An additional element of the contest will require each contestant to deliver an ‘assigned topic’ oration lasting 3-5 minutes. The topic will be on some phase of the U.S. Constitution selected from Articles and Sections.
Eighteen schools, representing public, private, and home schools, were solicited. Nine schools registered fourteen contestants. Registrations included both male and female contestants and represented all grade classifications.
Post 178 winners can advance to district, division, state, and national levels of competition. At each level college scholarships will be awarded. Scholarship awards totaling $5,000 will be awarded at the state contest in San Antonio in February 2021. At the national final, college scholarships totaling $203,500 will be awarded in Indianapolis, IN in April 2021. The national winner will receive $25,000, second place $22,500, and third place $20,000.