American Legion Post 48 to hold High School Oratorical Scholarship Program

Catawba County High school students will test their knowledge of the U.S. Constitution when American Legion Post 48 holds the High School Oratorical Scholarship Program in early January.

The scholarship-awards program offers student in grades nine through 12 the chance to showcase their self-confidence, public-speaking skills and understanding of the nation’s foundational document in two speeches. The first speech, called the “prepared oration,” will run eight to 10 minutes and can be on any constitutional topic the student chooses. The primary requirement is that the speech emphasize “the attendant duties and obligations of a citizen to our government,” program rules say.

The second speech, called the “assigned topic discourse,” runs three to five minutes. The national American Legion has selected four constitutional topics the students will have to be ready to address; one of the four will be chosen by program organizers the day of the event for them to speak on.

The program starts at 1 p.m. Saturday, Jan. 7, at the Catawba County Museum of History, the county’s historic former courthouse, at 30 N. College Ave., Newton. Admission is free.

Harry Flynn, Americanism chairman for Post 48, emphasized the need for young Americans to gain insight into what the Founding Fathers intended for the then young United States when the Constitution was written in the 1780s.

“They need to know what our country was formed on and what our forefathers were planning,” he said previously. “What did our forefathers have in mind when they wrote the Constitution? It’s a document that’s still very important today, and it’s important for our young people to understand it.”

The effort the students invest in the program will be rewarded. The winner will receive a $500 scholarship, and the first and second runners-up earn scholarships of $200 and $100 respectively.

The winner also will advance to the oratorical program held at the district level, and possibly from there to those at the division, state and national levels. Scholarships are awarded at each level.

For information about the High School Oratorical Scholarship Program, contact program chairman Ross Chandler at publicity.ncpost48@gmail.com or call 252-231-3140.