If you are a high school student who loves public speaking and the Constitution, The American Legion has a competition gearing up in the next couple of months.

Here in San Antonio, interested contestants should contact Michael Knott at 210-740-7311 to sign up for the contest.

According to Knott, the Legion’s oratorical program is a constitutional speech contest for high school students and it offers scholarships upwards of $25,000 at the national level. The contest has a prepared oration and an assigned topic which is assigned the day of the contest.

The prepared oration must be on some aspect of the Constitution, with emphasis on a citizen’s duties and obligations to our government. The same subject and oration used in the department contest must be used in the national contest. The purpose of the assigned topic discourse is to test the speaker’s knowledge of the subject, the extent of his or her research, and the ability to discuss the topic as related to the basic principles of government under the Constitution.