Top 53 Oratorical contestants announced

The American Legion’s 2014 High School Oratorical Scholarship Program, "A Constitutional Speech Contest," will be held April 4-6 in Indianapolis at the Wyndham Indianapolis West hotel.

The contest will begin April 5 at 9:45 a.m. (EDT) with 53 high school students from across the country competing in the quarterfinals. The top nine contestants from the quarterfinals will advance to the semifinals at 3:15 p.m. During both sessions, the participants will present a rehearsed eight- to 10-minute oration on an aspect of the U.S. Constitution in front of judges, as well as a three- to five-minute speech on an assigned topic discourse — a phase of the Constitution selected from its Articles and Sections.

The top three semifinal winners will advance to the national championship finals on April 6 at 10 a.m. (EDT) for a chance to win first place and an $18,000 scholarship. Second place receives a $16,000 scholarship, and third place receives a $14,000 scholarship. Watch a live streaming of the championship finals on www.legiontv.org.

The following is a list of the 53 students competing in The American Legion's National Oratorical Contest:

• Abigail Hagel of Wetumpka, Ala.

• Sierra Smith of Anchorage, Alaska

• Chetan Bafna of Somerton, Ariz.

• Caitlyn Crowder of Heber Springs, Ark.

• Isaac Taylor of El Cajon, Calif.

• Ellen Densmore of Denver

• Phoebe Petrovic of Centerbrook, Conn.

• Naman Patel of Bear, Del.

• Emmanuel Lee of Washington, D.C.

• Elizabeth Barahona of Orlando, Fla.

• Ruth Alvarez of France

• Renee Dodson of Fayetteville, Ga.

• Jianwu Huang of Honolulu

• Esther Frederick of Meridian, Idaho

• Sarvasva Raghuvanshi of Naperville, Ill.

• Jana Minich of Lafayette, Ind.

• Emma Skahill of Earlham, Iowa

• James Davis of Newton, Kan.

• Megan Armstrong of Morehead, Ky.

• Gabrielle Lewis of Opclousas, La.

• Emma Schalk of Sabattus, Maine

• Alla Abdelwahab of Salisbury, Md.

• Nicholas Terranova of North Andover, Mass.

• Kaylee Tegethoff of Bloomingdale, Mich.

• Caroline Donaldson of Eden Prairie, Minn.

• Solomon Brown of Greenwood, Miss.

• Ashwath Kumar of Columbia, Mo.

• Jackson Smith of Missoula, Mont.

• Allegra Hardin of David City, Neb.

• Ross Hatley of Gardnerville, Nev.

• Zachary Letourneau of Dublin, N.H.

• Andrew Bambrick of Hammonton, N.J.

• Daniel Ahrens of Los Alamos, N.M.

• Andrew Hartnett of Cobleskill, N.Y.

• Jacob McHugh of Charlotte, N.C.

• Samantha Goerger of Wyndmere, N.D.

• Jakob Puckett of Blanchester, Ohio

• Jornell Whigham of Lawton, Okla.

• Sarah Aldrich of Mulino, Ore.

• Brandon Posner of Doylestown, Penn.

• Abigail Matthew of Mayaguez, Puerto Rico

• Gabrielle Viens of Barrington, R.I.

• Sarah Foster of Goose Creek, S.C.

• Esther Swift of Burke, S.D.

• Rachel Tuck of Lafayette, Tenn.

• Amber Bell of Austin, Texas

• Morgan Ewing of Salt Lake City

• Hannah Hatch of Vergennes, Vt.

• Hayley Snowden of McLean, Va.

• Cady Crosby of Burlington, Wash.

• Lauren Spears of Elkins, W.Va.

• Astha Berry of Franklin, Wis.

• Zariah Tolman of Otto, Wyo.