Four students competed in the local American Legion Oratorical Contest that took place on Wed., Nov. 20.

“The American Legion is a veterans organization that does a scholarship competition,” history teacher Mrs. Rosanne Lopez said. “The students have to give an 8 to 10 minute speech, and it has to be memorized.”

Senior Halle Hagdorn placed first and advanced to the district contest, which will be held on Jan. 12 at the public library in Hondo.

“I won the local competition and will compete in the district contest,” Hagdorn said. “I’m glad that my hard work and time paid off and that I get to represent Devine High School at the district contest.”

This is the second year Hagdorn has competed in and won the contest.

“I won the contest last year so I was familiar with the process and set up,” Hagdorn said. “I was the last speaker this year, so I had a lot of time to prepare and get in the right mind set.”

Students were required to give a speech about the Constitution and explain how and why it’s important.

“This was my first year competing in the competition,” junior Madilynne Mohr said. “It was a good experience; I would definitely recommend it to other people.”

The American Legion Contest is offered to all grade levels. Students will continue to have the opportunity to participate in the competition next year.

“All of my dual credit juniors write an essay about the Constitution or certain aspects of it, then they have a chance to give the speech for the competition,” Mrs. Lopez said. “The kids who do the competition learn a lot more about the Constitution.”