Houston High School students are invited to compete in the 74th Annual High School Oratorical Scholarship Program sponsored by The American Legion, Department of Missouri, Inc.
David Shafer, public relations chairman for legion, stated that the purpose of the contest is to develop knowledge and appreciation of the U.S. Constitution, the ability to think and speak clearly and critically and the acceptance of duties, responsibilities, rights and privileges of American Citizenship.
Students must be United States citizens or lawful permanent under the age of 20 in order to participate. Participants in the contest must be enrolled in a Missouri high school, and home-schooled students are eligible if their course of instruction satisfies state law.
Students may compete as many times as they wish provided that they are not a national finalist in a previous contest.
The contest meets guidelines of the Missouri State High School Activities Association and appears in the Advisory List of Contests and Activities of the National Association of Secondary School Principals. The contest is designed as a teaching tool to assist speech, social studies and language arts teachers in the study of the United States Constitution.
Competition starts with each school submitting one contestant to the local American Legion Post for sponsorship. Home-schooled students who meet the requirements and will be participating should go to www.missourilegion.org/programs/oratorical.htm to submit their contestant certification form. Once received, the form will be forwarded to the county chairman and the students notified of the date and time of the county contest.
The high school winner will progress to the county, district, zone and state competition in that order. All students who compete at the district level will receive a $5,000 renewable scholarship and an annual $1,800 “Work and Learn” stipend (over $27,000) from Lindenwood University good only if the student attends Lindenwood University.
The winners of the four zone competitions will compete for level awards of: first place, gold medal and $2,000; second place, silver medal and $1,800; third place, silver medal and $1,600; and fourth place, bronze medal and $1,400.
The winner of the state competition will advance to the national finals in Indiana.
Shafer stated that every senior high school principal and speech instructor in Missouri receives information pertaining to this program each year. Students wishing to participate in the American Legion Oratorical Contests must contact their school counselors. Winners of the junior (ninth grade) and senior high school contests must be selected by Nov. 30 to compete in the county contest.