Greencastle-Antrim High students win speech contest

3 take first-, second- and third-place in Voice of Democracy competition

January 04, 2008|By ASHLEY HARTMAN

GREENCASTLE, PA. ? For the first time, students from Greencastle-Antrim High School took first, second and third place at the VFW District 21 Voice of Democracy Speech Contest, according to Dale Sheller, co-chair of Greencastle's Voice of Democracy Speech Contest.

Hannah Izer, 17, took first place, Diana Stottlemyer, 17, came in second and Noel Fridgen, 18, took third in the district speech contest, which was judged Dec. 16.

The theme was "my role in honoring America's Veterans." Franklin, Adams and York counties were represented in the district contest.

The contest began at the local level with members of VFW Post 6319 in Greencastle judging the speeches, which were taped and were to be three and five minutes in length.

Stottlemyer received first place in the local competition, Fridgen received second place and Izer received third place. Then, for the the first time, the Post submitted all speeches to the district competition.

Izer went on to compete at the state level Dec. 22 in Lancaster, Pa. She will learn how she fared Jan. 26.

"I'm really nervous and just excited," Izer said. "I'm hopeful for what's going to happen. The veterans are all really excited, too."

All three seniors admitted that their English teacher was the reason they entered the speech contest.

Izer said that she initially was not patriotic about it.

"Then I started to do research and I got inspired - it's made me more patriotic," she said.

"My speech included a letter from (my) Grandpa," Stottlemyer said. "You read about it in textbooks (but) when you read about it in letters, it's more real."

"Regardless of our political convictions, these guys have made sacrifices," Stottlemyer said.

"I was really honored that (the veterans) liked the way I portrayed their sacrifice," Fridgen said.

Greencastle-Antrim High School social studies teacher Karrie Hefner was named District 21 Teacher of the Year.

The three seniors received scholarship money for the district and Greencastle speech contests. Izer received $600 from the district contest and $100 from the Greencastle contest; Stottlemyer received $500 from the district contest and $300 from the local contest; and Fridgen received $200 for each contest.

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