EPHRATA — Sixteen Washington students demonstrated their speaking skills March 29, according to an announcement from American Legion Art Semro Post 28 in Ephrata. 

The Constitutional Speech Contest, sponsored by the American Legion of Washington, was held at Big Bend Community College, according to the announcement. Competitors were required to research, write and memorize an 8-10-minute speech on the U.S. Constitution, then deliver it without using notes, amplification or a lectern.  

Mary Crosby, a home-schooled junior from Burlington who took the championship, spoke about civic virtue and its connection to the Constitution. 

“Moral virtue is our disposition as an individual to make moral or reasonable choices,” Crosby said. “Civic virtue is that same disposition when it comes to the common good … Any attack on the ability of a good citizen to act morally is an attack on the Constitution and the foundation of our country. The reason for this is that when being a good citizen no longer becomes our focus, we do not strive to uphold the Constitution.” 

Next, competitors had to deliver a three- to five-minute speech with five minutes’ preparation on a topic chosen by the organizers. 

The topic they picked was the 18th Amendment, which prohibited the manufacture, sale, transportation or importation of alcoholic beverages. 

“Historians look back at the 18th Amendment and they realized that it was a great example of the Senate failing to do its job as the cooling saucer of Congress,” said second-place winner Cassandra Brinlee of Olympia. "The House of Representatives, since it’s more proportionate to the people and essentially represents the people, tends to be much more inflammatory, fiery, passionate, whereas the Senate, since it represents the states, is much more level-headed. So you’ve got your steaming cup of tea, which is the House, and there they start boiling over with ideas and bills they want to get passed. The good news is, the Senate is right there underneath as the cooling saucer to temper some of that heat and to catch some of the spills that come over the side … The 18th Amendment is when they let one of those spills go out.” 

The four finalists — Crosby, Brinlee, third-place winner Natali James of Washougal and fourth-place winner Ruth Atcheson of Colville, will share $5,000 in scholarship funds. Crosby will receive $2,000 and an all-expense-paid Hillsdale College in Michigan May 16-18 to represent Washington in the finals, the Legion post wrote in the announcement. The champion at the national level will receive a $25,000 scholarship and the second- and third-place winners will receive $22,500 and $20,000 respectively. Washington State has produced two national champions in the last five years, the Legion wrote. 

Read the full text of the Constitution at: constitutioncenter.org/the-constitution