A North Fort Myers High School senior won second place at the American Legion’s Statewide Oratorical Scholarship competition held recently in Orlando, earning a scholarship.
“Because of the speech contest, I am motivated now more than ever to serve my community one day,” Kristian Wydysh said.
Each student must speak about a facet of the Constitution of their choosing, as well as provide another speech on a constitutional amendment at random.
“You don’t go through your life thinking about your rights under the Constitution and how they can change,” he said. “It really opened my eyes to this founding document. It changed my perspective on American government, how our rights and freedoms can change over time.”
Wydysh said American Legion Post 90 in Cape Coral provided a scholarship, all expenses paid, to go to Orlando on March 25 for the competition.
“I want to express my gratitude to the American Legion. They gave me a shot, gave me a chance for my voice to be heard and the experience is invaluable,” he said.
The competition started at the American Legion Post 90 level, before going on to District 13, Southwest Florida area level and then states.
“What’s interesting about the competition – you don’t get a podium or note cards. You have eight minutes of your prepared speech off the top of your head in front of people,” Wydysh said.
He said he had to practice walking around and using hand motions, all while remembering his eight-minute speech.
“It’s definitely a huge challenge,” Wydysh said.
This is the second time Wydysh has attended the state speech competition. Last year he earned a third. His third place topic was the Second Amendment and his view it should not be part of the issue – “one of which Americans come together to solve the basic problems we have in front of us.”
This year he spoke about voting rights.
“More specifically how youth are not prioritizing civic engagement. I have been involved in civic engagement programs since middle school. We aren’t going to be able to modernize as a country and will not be able to uphold the values of the Constitution if youth now are not going to take advantage of youth opportunities before us,” Wydysh said.
After the prepared speech, he said there was a surprise topic challenge, where they draw from four different constitutional amendments. Participants had five minutes to come up with an impromptu, three-minute speech.
They “challenge your knowledge of the Constitution and ability to be able to speak on something with passion and conviction on the fly,” Wydysh said.
That topic was the 18th Amendment, prohibition.
“That was interesting to do. It is not really an amendment that is really studied. I basically said the 18th Amendment was different from all others and talked about the states and federal government working together to force the ban,” Wydysh said.
He said he really wants to express his gratitude to the American Legion, as the contest is something he did not know existed.
“I always loved public speaking. I didn’t know I could earn scholarships for it. These are scholarships that you earn, speak and compete for them. You feel better about yourself that you earned it from your performance, study and writing an eight-minute speech,” Wydysh said.
From the past two years, Wydysh has earned about $5,000, which will help, as it is financially straining to attend college. He will attend the University of Florida in the fall where he plans to study political science and prelaw before eventually going to law school.
His professional and career interest is to be elected to public office.
“American Legion has definitely been a driver in that endeavor,” Wydysh said.
Wydysh said his journey with the American Legion began when he interviewed for the American Legion Boys State and was accepted. He had the opportunity to visit the state capital to learn about leadership and met Ted Clark, American Legion Post 90 oratorical chair.
“He actually really motivated me to try out for the speech program,” he said.
Two years of being in the speech program, Wydysh said, has been an enriching process to learn about the Constitution and speak about it, as it enhanced his knowledge about the American government and American Constitution.
Boy State, a one-week program over the summer, was an incredible experience for the North Fort Myers High School senior. He explained the experience as “surreal.”
“You arrive in Tallahassee really early in the morning – you get there at 7 a.m. and by 8 a.m. you are running for your first political office,” Wydysh said.
He said the “floor” is considered a city, and his “dorm room” was the county, while the entire program was the state. Wydysh was elected the mayor of his city, and ended up being elected to the Senate and then the Senate president.
One of the things that stood out – although it was a youth program, the reality of politics happened.
“There is political campaigning, press doing videos of candidates, speeches in front of the entire program,” he said.
The program was intense as it started at 7 a.m. and ended at 11 p.m., which Wydysh said created great relationships with the people with which he worked. He said to this day he still keeps in contact with those on his floor.
“It’s a strong connection and motivation to get involved,” Wydysh said of Florida government.
He is now involved in the American Legion Boy State Alumni Program, which will only further the connections he made his junior year.
“I am really excited to start my life in Gainesville. Those experiences from the American Legion will give me a good head start,” Wydysh said.
Wydysh was also involved in Youth Council for Cape Coral, where he was unanimously appointed in May 2023. He said that it provided him an opportunity to learn about city government and participate in clothing drives and voting presentations at high schools.
“A great experience to be able to do what I love and be of service,” Wydysh said.
He will graduate from North Fort Myers High School this May. While at North, he also attended Florida Southwestern State College where he earned his AA degree.
“I took the opportunity to go to FSW to try to complete some college courses – a free program – and it helped me prepare better for college,” Wydysh said.
Once he completes his studies, he said, he will come back to Cape Coral where he has lived all his life to start a career and raise a family.
“I want to go out and see what is outside of Cape Coral and get that college experience. I will bring my knowledge and skills back to the community I love and serve my community,” Wydysh said.
Those interested in learning more about the American Legion Oratorical Scholarship program for next year can contact American Legion Post 90 Oratorical Chair Ted Clark at 845-527-7948, 239-540-8128, alpost90cape@yahoo.com or TedClark12@gmail.com.
To reach MEGHAN BRADBURY, please email
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