Of special interest to all the local high school students from various high schools in the San Gabriel Valley who participated in The American Legion 2012 High School Oratorical Scholarship Program will be news from the National Organization that the winner of the $18,000 scholarship was a junior from Morgantown, Indiana, Rebecca Frazer whose winning oration was titled “Maintaining Liberty: The People’s Call”.

Rebecca started the weekend in Indianapolis as one of 52 state or territorial champions in the 75^th annual contest where she advanced to the championship through three rounds of intense competition.  Second place winner of a $16,000 scholarship was Charles K. Baines from Meridian, Idaho, while John Donaldson IV of Eden Prairie, Minn., earned a $14,000 scholarship finishing third.  The scholarships account for a small portion of the more than $3 million in post-secondary scholarships that The American Legion, the nation’s largest veterans organization awards annually.

In her prepared oration, Frazer said, “Every great creation required great effort to maintain – including our nation’s powerful founding document – the United States Constitution.  Abraham Lincoln once said ‘The Constitution must be maintained for it is the only safeguard of our liberties’, but President Lincoln was not speaking of the original paper Constitution – he was praising the very words and mandates of our Constitution.  Together, we can understand the full importance of Lincoln’s charge by first viewing the Constitution’s beautiful power and by second seeing the necessity of maintaining this great founding document.”

Frazer also mentioned that the Constitution was unproved through its amendments.  “The simplicity and limited scope of the Constitution showed the world that the strength of a nation is not defined by the power of its government, but by the freedom of its people.  The Constitution built our government from the roots up.  By itself, the document is not perfect, but it gave the people the ability to make their government perfect”.

Our nation is blessed by its extensive education system and the fine young people attending our many schools where they have the exceptional opportunity to learn from our many educators who dedicate their lives to our next generation of leaders.  The accomplishments of our youth in this oratorical competition and other related American Legion programs restores our faith in the future of our Nation.

Peggy McIntosh, San Gabriel