Department of France holds Oratorical contest
From left, Nathaniel Dicavage, James Settle and Caleb Winningham. (Photo courtesy James Settle)

Department of France holds Oratorical contest

On Feb. 16, VC at Large James Settle along with VC Brown, VC Ward, Adjutant Rice, Department Auxiliary President Settle, and SAL Detachment Commander Settle, attended the France department-level Oratorical Contest. Also present were the post commanders from GR03, GR06, and GR79,

The Contestants were Nathaniel Dicavage representing Heidelberg High School and Post GR03, and Caleb Winningham representing Stuttgart High School and Post GR06.

Both students had well-prepared speeches, and presented them outstandingly and professionally. On the drawn subject (Article II, Section 1, Paragraph 5) on the U.S. Constitution, both again did exceptionally well and are to be applauded for their efforts in the Oratorical contest. It takes a great amount of courage to stand before an unknown audience and give a speech on what could be a very boring subject, and still be able to hold the attention of the audience.

Both of these students were able to capture that attention and hold it to the assigned speech and drawn subject. Congratulations are in order for both of them. Below is listed the outcome of the department-level Oratorical contest.

First Place: Caleb Winningham Stuttgart High School
Second Place: Nathaniel Discavage Heidelberg High School

A first for the Department of France, we had two posts, GR03 and GR79, supporting Discavage. By both commanders working together, they were able to organize the post-level Oratorical contest and move their contestant forward to the department contest. This only shows what can be done when we collectively work together with each other. My cap off to both commanders, Ed Sherman and Joe Brown, for supporting each other’s efforts. I hope in the future to see more posts working together to accomplish a mission.

In closing, I would like to thank Stuttgart Post Commander Van Duyne, Comrades Gary Miller, Douglas Clemence, and the members of GR06 for hosting, organizing and implementing the Department of France's 2013 Oratorical contest. Thank you for a job well done.