Oratorical Contest
The purpose of The American Legion’s National High School Oratorical Contest is to develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation of the Constitution of the United States on the part of high school students. Other objectives of the contest include the development of leadership qualities, the ability to think and speak clearly and intelligently, and the preparation for acceptance of the duties and responsibilities, the rights and privileges of American citizenship.
In the fall of each year, details for the Oratorical Contest are released. Check back here for more details.
American Legion Oratorical Contest
2024-25 Oratorical Contest
Post Level
On December 1, 2024, the American Legion Oratorical Contest kicked off at the post level, at LT Ray Dickop Post 36 in West Bend. Haley Hubert and Jacob Lindsay participated, and both gave an outstanding prepared oration followed by an assigned topic speech.
The prepared oration is pretty wide open as it is an 8-10 minute speech on some aspect of the Constitution of the United States with emphasis to the attendant duties and obligations of a citizen to our government.
The assigned topic discourse is a 3-5 minute speech from one of four assigned topics in which the participants must be prepared to speak on any of the four as one is drawn at random, with the contestants given 5 minutes for final preparations. The topics always come from the US Constitution and this year the four topics focused on Amendment I, Amendment VII, Amendment XVIII and Amendment XXVI. The assigned topic drawn this year was on Amendment I.
Haley Hubert who is 17 years old, is a senior at West Bend East. Haley has participated in the contest previously and heard about it through high school.
Jacob Lindsay is 15 years old and is home schooled. Jacob is a boy scout with the VFW Troop 226 in West Bend and heard about the contest from his scout leaders.
A lot of scholarship money is at stake as winners advance ultimately to the national level where young orators earn some of the most generous college scholarships available to high school students. Over $203,500 in scholarships can be awarded each year. The overall national contest winner gets a $25,000 scholarship. Second place takes home $22,500, and third gets $20,000. Each department (state) winner who is certified into and participates in the national contest’s first round receives a $2,000 scholarship. Those who advance past the first round receive an additional $2,000 scholarship. The American Legion’s National Organization awards the scholarships, which can be used at any college or university in the United States.
At the post level, $300 is given to the winner who will advance to compete at the county level.
Five judges were on hand to score the participants. After tallying all the scores, it was determined that Haley Hubert was the local winner and would advance. Best of luck to Haley as she moves on in the competition.
