SPEAK! MD Oratory League - MLK Competition

Congratulations to the SPEAK! 2011

Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Oratorical Competition Participants

Thirty students competed in the 2011 Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Oratorical Competition at the Publick Playhouse in Cheverly on Monday, January 17, 2011. The competition organized by SPEAK! MD Oratory League gave students in grades 2-12 the opportunity to the honor the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

1st place winners won $300 in savings bonds sponsored by Washington Gas, 2nd place winners won $200 in savings bonds sponsored by the Prince George’s County Chapter of The Links, Incorporated and 3rd place winners won a $100 savings bond sponsored by Visiting Angels of Largo, Maryland. Additional sponsors of the event included Battle-Carreno Clinical Services and Wegmans.

Competition Results:

In the elementary school division, students presented a declamation of Dr. King’s. 1st place winner Jade Hull, a 5th grader at William Hall Academy, and 2nd place winner Randee Reed, a 5th grader at Panorama ES presented Dr. King’s famous speech “I have Dream” speech. 3rd place winner Raphael Cash a home schooled 3rd grader, presented Dr. King’s speech “A Realist Look at the Question of Progress in the area of Race Relations”.

In the middle school division Shenteia Fryer won 1st place and Jordan McDermott won 2nd place for their original oratory about “what they are doing for others” and how they are “being responsible in the community?”. Sabeena Khan won 3rd place for her original response describing a person in her life that “embodies Dr. King’s ideas about the power of love and goodness”. All three middle school division winners are sixth graders at Oakcrest Elementary School, in Landover, MD.

In the high school division 10th grader Alexis Franklin of the National Collegiate Preparatory Public Charter HS won 1st place, Attiyah Jenkins, a home schooled 9th grader won 2nd place and Dorian Sims, a 9th grader at Dematha Catholic High School won 3rd place. All three winners wrote and presented an original oratory, describing “how your education is molding your character”.

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