Madison Wellman of Schoharie is the 2012 winner of the Schoharie County American Legion Oratorical Scholarship Contest.
The competition was held Saturday at Sharon Springs Central School.
Renee Handy, a SSCS junior, placed second; other finalists were Aaron McDonald and Holly Spiess, both also SSCS juniors.
Madison now moves on to the next level of competition in January at SUNY Cobleskill.
The students each spoke for 8-10 minutes on some subject of the Constitution; they were allowed neither a podium nor notes of any kind.
Judges were Rev. Donald Klob, Donna Pestam associate director of the Student Success Center at SUNY Cobleskill, and Dr. Steffen Strasser.
Frank Masterson chaired the event for the American Legion, which has hosted the local event for the past three years.
"The students all did an amazing job," Mr. Masterson said. "We're very proud that they would put so much time and effort into something like this. It speaks well on the upcoming generations."
SSCS history teacher Dave Nedelsky and Schoharie Central English teacher Tom Clayton worked with their respective students on oratory preparation.
In order of presentation, Aaron spoke on "Tyranny Avoided," Holly on "A Modern Renaissance," Renee on "Protecting the American Dead," and Madison on "The Cloud."