God, Flag and Country Speech Competition Held by Fraternal Order of Eagles

March 4, 2022

Kailan Martin,

MUSKINGUM COUNTY, Ohio- The Fraternal Order of Eagles #302 held their God, Flag and Country Speech Competition today at the John McIntire Library.

The God, Flag and Country Speech Competition consists of students from ages 10 to 15 that are judged on first, second, third place on three minute speeches about God, their flag or what their country means to them.

The past president of the Zanesville Eagles, Jim Hicks, said they’ve been doing this program locally since 2002 and the program really encourages students to learn about U.S. history.

“To watch the children stand up there some of them just go through like pros and others you’ll see them this year and next year you’ll see a huge improvement and it’s just nice to follow along with them,” Hicks stated.

The students spoke on topics like patriotism, the founding fathers, the uniqueness of the United States, the 1st amendment and more

One student, Addison Derry from East Muskingum Local, gave insight on the preparation process to get to this moment.

“First you have to pick the right speech for you, that’s important. On some bases you have to understand it and connect with it or then it won’t work out. So after you choose the speech then everyday you have to practice it if you want to keep it memorized and it takes a lot of work, but it really is rewarding in the end,” Derry said.

Another student, Lexie Charles from Franklin Local shared her reason why she chose a program like this.

“I mainly wanted to be a part of this because it is really important to me. Our country is amazing. We have freedom, we have freedom of speech, we just live in an overall really great country and it’s just an awesome opportunity,” Charles said.

Derry ended up placing first place within the 12 to 13 year old age group and will be competing for state in the Zone competition at Buckeye Lake on April 9th, as Charles did place second for the same age group.

However, all first, second and third winners did receive a plaque.