Senior Ryan Rusch and junior Rhaya Montoya are two of North’s shining stars in the 2017 American Legion Oratorical Competition.

The oratorical competition is simply a state legal public speaking competition orchestrated by The American Legion. Junior Rhaya Montoya placed third this year at the State competition.
“I prepare for competitions by practicing in front of my coach, in front of my mirror, videotaping myself, and attending meetings with experienced community members of Grayslake that provide me with helpful advice on how to improve,” Montoya said.
She was honored to have been put in the position to place third and is grateful that she did.
“My personal goals were essentially to strengthen my ability to speak in public and become more comfortable in front of a diverse crowd,” Montoya said.
Montoya later went on to explain how she felt her season went.
“Thus far, there have been two competitions that lead to State, and considering that I am progressing to State, I would say that they were successful,” Montoya said.
Though personal goals may have been different for the two, they nonetheless achieved them.
“I won the first one; the rest weren’t so fortunate. I wanted to learn a lot and spread awareness about our war veterans,” said senior Ryan Rusch.
The experience of State is a first and last for Ryan, and despite the result, he encourages more people to be active.
“I learned a lot and made some friends, so I’d suggest to all freshmen to get involved next year,” Rusch said.