DARLINGTON — On Wednesday February 18, Lafayette County held its American Legion Oratorical at the Darlington American Legion Post 214.  

There were three students who participated in the Contest representing their local American Legion Posts. Grant Kuberski for Argyle Post 251, Eden Marquardt for Blanchardville Post 142 and Emanuel Bello for Darlington Post 214. With the Oratorical each student is asked to speak for 8 to 10 minutes on some aspect of the U.S. Constitution that they have prepared.

Kuberski’s prepared speech was titled “Declaration of War”, Marquardt’s speech was titled “Why the 8th Amendment is Promising”, and Bello’s speech was titled “An Overview of the First Amendment”. The students were then asked to speak for 3 to 5 minutes on one of four Amendments that is chosen at random. The Amendment that was chosen for them to speak on was Article VI Clause 3. All three students hit their marks with both speeches and did an outstanding job making their time limits.

“We had four individuals from around the county that helped judge the Oratorical and the Legion thanks them for taking the time to step up and help judge and give feedback to the students,” said Dan O’Brien of the American Legion Post 214. 

Kuberski won the contest, with Emanuel Bello coming in second and Eden Marquardt came in third. For their hard work and dedication to the Oratorical Scholarship Program, the Lafayette County American Legion awarded Kuberski $250; Bello received $150 and Marquardt received $100. Kuberski will move onto the District competition to be held at the Barneveld Legion Post on Saturday, March 7. The winner at the District level will move onto the State Competition to be held at Ripon College on Saturday, March 28.