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Oratorical Contest
American Legion District #4 Commander Ronald P. Coderre spoke to students at Putnam High School about the annual Legion Oratorical Contest. Students are pictured with Coderre, front left, and teacher John Allen, back right. Courtesy photo.
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Preparations are currently underway by The American Legion Department of Connecticut for its annual Oratorical Contest, according to District #4 Commander Ronald P. Coderre. The American Legion Oratorical Contest, a high school ‘Constitutional Speech Contest’ that exists to develop a deeper knowledge and appreciation for the U. S. Constitution, is conducted annually throughout Connecticut and the nation.
The program, which is open to high school students under 20, has been in existence since 1938. Local contests overseen by local Legion Posts are conducted in the month of January. The winners of the local contests move on to the District level competition in February. The District #4 contest will be held at The Woodstock Academy. The winners of the seven Connecticut Districts then convene in March for the right to represent Connecticut in the National competition in April.
American Legion Posts in District #4 are Post #13 Putnam; Post #14 Rockville; Post #19 Willimantic; Post #21 Danielson; Post #26 Stafford Springs; Post #52 Coventry-Mansfield; Post #62 Ellington; Post #67 North Grosvenordale; Post #91 Moosup; Post #95 Hebron; Post #101 Somers; Post #111 Woodstock; and Post #203 Eastford. High school students under the age of 20 who are interested in more information should contact Posts in their geographic area or contact District #4 Commander Ronald P. Coderre at 860.942.7243 or by e-mail at
The goal of the contest is to encourage the development of public speaking, leadership, and an understanding of our nation’s laws as they pertain to our Constitution. Each contestant is asked to make an eight to 10-minute prepared oration on a predetermined aspect of the Constitution. The second part of the contest involves a randomly assigned constitutional topic that they are expected to speak on for between three and five minutes.
Last year’s District contest was won by Lucas Johnson, a sophomore at H.H. Ellis Technical School. His topic was “The Dangers of Constitutional Ignorance.” Johnson was sponsored by the L’Homme-Burdick Post #21 of Danielson. Johnson was the runner-up in the 2020 Department of Connecticut contest, which featured winners from the seven districts of the state.
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Raising Money
The Woodstock Academy field hockey team gathers around sophomore Joanna Lin as she does one of her 650 burpees to help raise money for the B Club at the school. Photo by Lauren Gagnon.
Traditionally, The Woodstock Academy field hockey team does its burpee challenge by itself, raising money for Breast Cancer Awareness.
But 2020 has been anything but traditional. The field hockey team decided with little in the way of competition on a regular basis, due to the pandemic shutting down athletics at numerous ECC schools, why not have a competition from within and, in the process, aid a cause from within.
The team invited both the boys’ and girls’ soccer team to join them in the burpee challenge event to benefit the B Club at Woodstock Academy. The B Club provides families, especially those within the Academy family, with financial support in dealing with long-term illnesses.
Several members of the field hockey team are a part of the B Club and many were well-acquainted with Wes Woronecki who hailed from Union.
Woronecki, who would have been a senior this year at Woodstock Academy, lost his 5-year battle with pediatric bone cancer in July.
“A lot of us were impacted by Wesley’s death so for us to be able to give back to someone else who is still battling cancer and to support B Club is amazing,” said senior field hockey captain Meg Preston.
Preston said the decision was made to invite the other two teams to help with fund-raising, especially since the school is learning virtually and there is little contact with others outside of athletics.
The effort raised more than $1,200 to date with more coming in.
It was also a little more fun with more involved.
“It was kind of cool to see and the cause for which it was for was tremendous. As soon as I mentioned it to the lads, they thought it was great,” said boys’ soccer coach Paul Rearden.
What he didn’t expect was the competitive nature of it until he got to the turf at the Bentley Athletic Complex.
“It was great to see the effort that they all put in,” Rearden said.
He anticipated the event to take 10 minutes of that day’s soccer practice.
The teams were still there an hour later, cheering on the efforts of a pair of sophomores, field hockey player Joanna Lin and Jack Marshall from boys’ soccer.
A burpee, according to field hockey coach Lauren Gagnon, is a jump up and then down into a point position and that motion is repeated. In most cases, a push up is included in the aerobic exercise but that wasn’t required in this event.
Student-athletes raised money based on either a sum per burpee or a flat donation. Normally, student-athletes do 25 to 30 and call it a day. Lin did 650.
“She’s a machine, super-determined, and was watching the boys who were still going and was determined not to quit,” Gagnon said.
“I think we were all shocked,” Preston said. “We just wanted to support her through it and prove that girls can do as many burpees as guys can.”
Lin said the mental determination is the big part. “If you tell yourself, ‘I can’t do it.’ You can’t do it. But if you mentally say to yourself that you can, your body goes numb and you keep on going,” Lin said. “I’ve never done 650 before. It was so tiring. My muscles were crying, but I pushed through it.”
Lin raised $325 for her efforts. Rearden said Marshall did around 700 burpees. Marshall also paid the price.
Rearden said he asked Marshall the next morning if he wanted to start in their 11 a.m. match against Windham Tech. “He said, ‘Come back to me in the second half.’ I think he went on for the last three minutes of the game,” Rearden said.
Marc Allard
Director of Sports Information
The Woodstock Academy
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Rules & Tips
Policy for photos: We follow the COVID-19 rules. Unrelated people must be wearing face masks or be at least 6 feet apart.
Space tip: Since space is at a premium, you'll find extended versions of some stories and the calendar on the Putnam Town Crier online at: www.putnamtowncrier.com.
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Woodstock Elementary/Middle
Monday and Thursday: Baked chicken, brown rice, black beans, fruit. Tuesday and Friday: Pizza, salad, fruit. Wednesday: Meal pickup at WMS.
Putnam Elementary/Middle
Monday Blue and Tuesday White: Wolf Meal with beef burgers with cheese and sherbet.
Wednesday Blue and Thursday White: Turkey, mashed potatoes, corn, gravy, fruit. Friday White: Pizza, salad, fruit.
Putnam High
Monday Blue and Tuesday White: Waffles, scrambled eggs or spicy chicken sandwiches. Wednesday Blue and Thursday White: Turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, corn, cranberry sauce and cookie or bacon cheeseburgers. Friday White: Pizza or homemade cheese calzone.
Pomfret Community
Fresh fruit and veggies served all week. Monday: Mozzarella sticks, marinara. Tuesday: Beef and cheese nachos, salsa. Wednesday: Turkey sandwiches. Thursday: Meatball grinders. Friday: Cheeseburgers.
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