Earns $25K
Scholarship, National Championship
HILLSDALE. Mich. ,
May 19,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- A home-schooled high school
sophomore from Renton, Wash.,
capped a busy weekend of competition by earning a $25,000 college scholarship and first place in
The American Legion High School Oratorical Scholarship Program – "A
Constitutional Speech Contest." Aubrey Jane
Moore's winning prepared oration was titled "Why Freedom of
Speech is in Danger."
Moore started the weekend as one of 52 state or department
champions in the 85th annual contest. She advanced to the
championship through three rounds of intense competition. She was
sponsored by American Legion Post 186 in Seattle.
Knox Andrew Boyd, a senior from
Lafayette, Ind., earned a
$22,500 college scholarship with a
second-place finish, while David Eugene
Daniel a 12th grader from Owensboro, Ky., earned $20,000 and third place in the competition. The
scholarships account for a small portion of post-secondary
scholarships that The American Legion, the nation's largest
veterans organization, awards annually.
In her prepared oration, Moore opened with a series of
statements from gun policy to immigration that can be considered
controversial. "Throughout American history, all kinds of opinions,
thoughts and beliefs have been voiced no matter the sentiment
because whether or not you approve or hate what I say, you must
support my right to say it," she explained. "This is the power of
free speech. And yet in recent years, we have seen a pushback on
this fundamental right."
In each round of the weekend competition, orators delivered a
rehearsed 8- to 10-minute address and a randomly assigned 3- to
5-minute oration on a constitutional topic, each without the
benefit of notes and in front of a live audience, including the
judges. The nearly 1.6-million-member American Legion developed the
contest to encourage young people to improve their communications
skills and to study the U.S. Constitution. More than
$3 million in scholarships have been
awarded over the history of the contest.
Media Contact: John
Raughter, (317) 630-1350, jraughter@legion.org.
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SOURCE The American Legion National Headquarters