National Oratory Finalist

Rachel Schartz is shown here after she

won the American Legion Oratory contest

in Oacoma. State Commander Byron Callies is

on the left and State Americanism Chairman

Fred Nelson is on the right.

Humboldt teenager places third in 
National American Legion Oratorical Contest

by Elizabeth "Sam" Grosz

West Central High School sophomore Rachel Schartz placed third in the National American Legion Oratorical Contest finals held April 21 in Indianapolis, Ind.
Schartz, daughter of Frank and Ann Schartz, Humboldt, is sponsored by William H. Crippen American Legion Post 62, Humboldt. Since last fall, she has advanced from two local contests, a district competition and the state event, culminating in the national event. Her oration was entitled, “Sewing Freedom,” and used references to Betsy Ross stitching the nation’s first flag.
In Indianapolis, her third place award garnered $14,000 in scholarship funds and had received an additional $3,000 in getting to the finals. This was her first year of competition.
“We are very happy for her and congratulate her on this accomplishment,” commented Humboldt Post Adjutant Fred Lee, Sioux Falls.
 The national winner is Agnes Rieger, Kansas City, Mo. Her winning oration, “Let’s Talk About Pennsylvania,” gave her an $18,000 scholarship. Second place, and a $16,000 scholarship, went to Elizabeth Scannell, Goose Creek, S.C., for her oration, “The Constitution: An American Position Description.”
The finalists each presented their eight-to-10-minute oration in front of a large crowd. They also presented a three-to-five-minute speech on an assigned topic, which was a phase of the Constitution drawn by American Legion National Commander James E. Koutz and made known to the contestant five minutes before the time of delivery.
This year’s assigned topic was Article 2, Section 1, Paragraph 5: “No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of president, neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen years a resident within the United States.”
 For more information, consult www.legion.org/oratorical.