Oratorical - Application and FAQs Document

8/10/2019 Oratorical - Application and FAQs Document

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The American LegionNational High School Oratorical Scholarship Competition

Statement of Purpose, Student Application Procedure and FAQs

Following is information regarding the American Legions Oratorical Scholarshipcompetition.

Why A Speech Scholarship Contest?

The American Legion recognizes that the future of our nation that so many ofour members have made sacrifices to defend during times of war, will becollectively in the hands of the youth of our communities. For a countryfounded on the principles of freedom and justice for all, an awareness of therights and obligations of being a citizen of our great country is essential. Yet itis apparent that insufficient instruction is provided by our schools in educating

our young people about the contents of this important document that detailsthe rights and duties of our citizens the Constitution of the United States.

As a way to encourage our nations high school aged youth to learn about ourConstitution, The American Legion has established The American LegionNational High School Oratorical Scholarship Competitionprogram with afocus on the contents of the U.S. Constitution. The participants are to prepareand deliver an original 8 to 10 minute speech on any aspect of theConstitution of their choosing, and a 3 to 5 minute extemporaneous speech ona pre-selected topic related to the Constitution as chosen by the NationalOratorical Competition Commission, and which is provided to the contestant

just 5 minutes prior to giving his/her speech on that topic.

Participant Registration

All high school students at all grade levels (Freshman through Senior) mayregister to participate in the Oratorical competition by simply signing aregistration / signature form and providing contact information.

The Registration Form will be made available during the on-campus visitation*by a representative from The American Legion, who will also provide an

overview of the competition, including when, where and at what time thecompetition is to take place, what is involved, what scholarship awards will bepresented and to answer any questions.

The contact information obtained on the Registration Form will only be sharedwith the members of the sponsoring Posts Americanism Committee who are

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American Legion National High School Oratorical Scholarship Competition(Cont.)

involved in running the event and have a need to know, and with the volunteermembers of the local Toastmasters.**

*The Legions competition organizers will need a member of the schools staffto serve as our contact, and to coordinate the on-campus visitation. We wouldalso request that this person take the initiative to help promote the event totheir respective student population, to periodically make contact with theparticipants to ensure they are progressing in their preparation for thecompetition, and to encourage them to stay with it. If a student subsequentlydecides to not continue as a participant, notification to the American Legionscompetition representative, Alan Munch (937-8598), is requested.

Registration Cutoff Date

The cutoff date for registering is December 1st.

The reason for establishing a cutoff date is two-fold:

1. To enable the American Legions competition organizers the time requiredto make the necessary preparations for conducting the competition, and tohave available the certificates, medals and scholarships funds, and;

2. Because of the challenging nature of the competition, including thenecessity for attaining a solid knowledge of the U.S. Constitution about

which the speech topics must be focused, and the ability to deliver an 8 to10 minute speech without the aid of notes, it would be impractical for anystudent who is seriously interested in competing to start preparing for thecompetition after that date.

Coaching / Mentoring

**The American Legion has arranged for the local Toastmasters organizationto offer coaching/mentoring assistance to the competition participants. Those

students desiring the volunteer Toastmasters help will so indicate on theRegistration Form, or by verbal confirmation to the American Legionscompetition representative.

The parents/guardians of those participants requesting the assistance of theToastmasters volunteers will be contacted by the assigned Toastmasters

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The top three winning contestants at the District (2nd) level of the competitionwill be awarded:

1stPlace - TBD, 2ndPlace - TBD and 3rdPlace - TBD

The 1stPlace winner will qualify to move on to the Area 6 (3 rd) level ofcompetition.

The top three winning contestants at the Area 6 level of the competition will beawarded:

1stPlace - TBD, 2ndPlace - TBD and 3rdPlace - TBD

The 1stPlace Area competition winner will qualify to move on to the forth levelof competition.

The top six winning contestants at the State (4th) level of the competition will

be awarded:1stPlace $1,200., 2ndPlace $1,000., 3rdPlace $ 700.,4thPlace $ 700., 5thPlace $ 700., 6thPlace $ 700.

The 1stPlace winner will qualify to move on to the fifth and final level ofcompetition The National Finals Competition.

All contestants qualifying to compete at the National level will receive anexpense paid trip to the American Legions headquarters in Indianapolis,Indiana for themselves and an adult escort. In addition, an automatic

scholarship award of $1,500. will be awarded if the State Certified contestantdelivers their speech at the 1stround of the event, and an additional $1,500. ifthey move on to the second round of competition, but dont advance to thefinal round.

The scholarships awarded to the top three winning contestants at the NationalFinals Competition (5th) level of the competition are:

1stPlace - $18,000., 2ndPlace - $16,000. and 3rdPlace - $14,000.

Post Level Competition Venue and Process Familiarization:

An opportunity to check-out the facility where the Post level competition will beheld will be available to participants approximately one week prior to the event.

A briefing describing how the competition will be conducted will also beprovided. The briefing will also be conducted with the contestants about one-half hour prior to the beginning of the event on January 3 rd.

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Hints for Success:

Dont Procrastinate ! : The reason nearly all of those students who expressed

their intention to compete for the substantial scholarship awards andimpressive recognition offered by this speech contest, but who eventuallydroped-out is!PROCRASTINATION!! Get started NOW on reading theConstitution, especially those aspects of it that are of particular interest to you,and about which you will form the basis of your prepared speech. Also,concentrate on Amendments 5, 6, 8 and 19 these are the four potentialassigned topics, one of which you will be giving an impromptu speech.

Nothing builds confidence in public speaking more than really, reallyKNOWING YOUR SUBJECT FORWARD AND BACKWARD.

There are a number of other community service or civic organizations (i.e.Elks, Daughters of the American Revolution, Veterans of Foreign Wars, Lions,etc.) that sponsor essay scholarship competitions, and there may be anopportunity to kill two birds by incorporating aspects of your speech into anessay to be submitted to these other organizations for their scholarships.

Seek Help : The American Legion has solicited the assistance of the localToastmasters group to provide coaching / mentoring services to thoseparticipants who request it. These volunteers are business people, communityleaders and professional public speakers who gather together to help oneanother to improve their own speaking skills. They can help you to develop animpact full speech and polish your presentation skills.

An orientation meeting open to all registered participants will be held onNovember 15that 10:00am at the Scout Hut at Pioneer Park off of W. FosterRoad in Orcutt. Initial instruction on how to develop your speech, and somedelivery techniques to help overcome the fear of public speaking that we allexperience when delivering a speech to an large audience.

Practice !, Practice !, Practice ! : Nothing can ensure a well-delivered speechlike PRACTICE. After youve written your speech, recite it to yourself in frontof a mirror no less than two dozen times; deliver it to your parents (althoughtheyre usually less critical almost too forgiving); to your extended family

members; your friends (if theyre really your friends, theyll be brutally honest,and there isnt any better feedback than that); and to your Toastmastervolunteer the final frontier. If s/he likes it, youre there!

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Dress Code: The American Legion National High School ScholarshipCompetition has earned recognition by many institutions of higher education

as a highly regarded event that attracts the more academically oriented andachievement minded young high school aged young people. As such, theLegionnaires conducting the event, and the community leaders who serve as

judges for the competition, will be in business attire. Although not mandatory,competitors will project a more professional and respectful appearance if theylikewise choose to dress in professional attire conservative business styleddress or pantsuit for females, and a business suit or sports coat and slacksand tie for males.

The foregoing is representative of the usual questions and concerns the schoolcoordinators and competition participants have asked the Legion organizers over thepast three years. If you have any questions not answered above, please donthesitate to contact the Legions Oratorical Competition Chairman, Alan Munch, viae-mail ([email protected]) or phone: 937-8598.

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Oratorical - Application and FAQs Document