By: Sheila Ray Reed
The Houston Sun
A group of 12 inspiring young speakers celebrated Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s legacy of peace and unity by displaying their oratorical skills at the 18th Annual Gardere MLK Jr. Oratory Competition, at the historic Antioch Missionary Baptist Church in downtown Houston.
First place winner, Amari Venzor, a fifth-grader at Cornelius Elementary School garnered accolades for his powerful speech on this year’s theme: What Dr. King would say if the March on Washington was held today? Venzor’s topic resonated around the essence of a quality education.
“The function of education is to teach one to think intensively and critically. We must remember that intelligence is not enough; but intelligence plus character now that is the goal of true education,” said Venzor.
He elaborated further and said that he found it interesting that the richest nation on earth hasn’t given enough money to build better schools and pay teachers what they are worth.
Venzor ended his speech by saying if Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking at a March on Washington today, he would say, “Until the valley of educational expectation is exalted and the mountain of style over substance is made low, that as long as we have breath in our bodies, then there is still work to be done,” he said
This young man has a heart of a champion and doesn’t believe in ever giving up. He said that even though he came close but didn’t win last year’s competition he had a feeling that he would win this year.
“I was excited about this year and I really prepared and felt confident,” he said. Venzor’s aspirations are to be an actor and a speechwriter.
The prizing winning speech won him top prize of $1,000. Second place went to Byron Roberson, a fifth-grade student at Dodson Elementary who won the $500 prize and the third place prize of $200 went to Chrystyna Haywood, a fourth-grader at Bruce Elementary.
The MLK Annual Oratory Competition is sponsored by the Gardere Wynne Sewell Law Firm. The contest aims to strengthen students’ skills while encouraging them to learn about and support the dreams of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.