High school orators sought for Legion competition

Posted 12/5/19

Powell area high school students are being invited to participate in the American Legion’s oratorical scholarship competition.

The contest — sponsored locally by the Legion’s …

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High school orators sought for Legion competition

Posted

Powell area high school students are being invited to participate in the American Legion’s oratorical scholarship competition.

The contest — sponsored locally by the Legion’s Hughes-Pittinger Post No. 26 — is set to take place on Saturday, Dec. 14. Applications are due by Wednesday, Dec. 11.

The first- through third-place finishers at the local level will receive awards of $200, $100 and $50, respectively. Larger awards and college scholarships are available for students who advance to the state level ($500, $400 and $200 for first through third place in Wyoming) or the national finals (where an up to $18,000 scholarship is up for grabs).

To participate, high school age youth must prepare and deliver an original, eight- to 10-minute speech about some part of the U.S. Constitution.

Additionally, competitors must brush up on their knowledge of the 12th, 20th, 24th and 27th amendments to the Constitution, because they’ll be asked to deliver a three- to five-minute speech on one of those subjects.

Students will find out which Amendment they’ll be addressing at the event — only about five minutes before they deliver the speech.

(For reference, the 12th Amendment deals with the Electoral College, the 20th generally sets the terms of the president and vice president and how they are replaced in the event of a death, the 24th Amendment prohibits states from charging any kind of tax as a precursor to voting guaranteeing equal protection under the law and the 27th Amendment says members of Congress can’t change their pay mid-term.)

Powell area high school students interested in entering the competition can find complete rules and contest information at the Legion Post on North Clark Street or at Powell High School, which is assisting with the event.

Students can also contact Post Commander Russell Stafford at 706-830-4648 or russellcordell@yahoo.com, Vice Commander Lin Bashford at bashfordlin@gmail.com, PHS Speech and Debate Coach Nicole Maier Reitz at nlmaierreitz@pcsd1.org or PHS counselor Trevor Lee at tglee@pcsd1.org for more information.

(Editor's note: This version corrects the explanation of the 24th Amendment.)

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