Each year, students across the district show off their oratory skills in the annual Martin Luther King Oratory Competition at Antioch Missionary Baptist Church of Christ (500 Clay Street, 77002). This year’s theme, “What would Dr. King say in his campaign speech if he were running for president this year?” will be tackled by fourth- and fifth-graders from several HISD schools on Friday, Jan. 15, 2016, from 10 a.m. – 12:30 p.m.

Now in its 20th year in Houston, the MLK Oratory competition, sponsored by Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, encourages elementary school students to spread the work and teachings of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. through self-written speeches that envision King’s message in today’s world. Students are judged based on delivery, stage presence and decorum, content interpretation, and memorization.

The twelve students who were previously selected as finalists and will be presenting their speeches for the chance to win the $1,000 prize are:

• Olutobi Adeyeri  (Valley West ES)
• Malak Albarguthi (Sutton ES)
• Mya Carrilllo (Garden Villas ES)
• Morgan Childs  (Crespo ES)
• Cam’ Ron Dancy (Windsor Village ES)
• Jessie Dozer  (Gregg ES)
• Richard Espinosa-Garza (Cornelius ES)
• Kyle Mosley (Whidby ES)
• Ga’ Brielle North (MacGregor ES)
• Samuel Pratt  (Thompson ES)
• Madyson Roland  (Wainwright ES)
• Brandalyn Thompson  (Pleasantville ES)

Videos of the winning speech and all other finalists will be posted on the www.houstonisd.org website on the day of the event. Be sure to view this video of last year’s winner, Chase Roberts of Cornelius Elementary School.
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