Student Wins Oratory Category in Great Debate Tournament for the National Hispanic Institute

 

The National Hispanic Institute is an organization that helps create youth Latino leaders. Grecia joined the North Texas Alliance of the National Hispanic Institute in October and has been taking part in meetings, fundraisers, and now the Great Debate. At the Texas 4-Day Great Debate, different regions from all around Texas come together at Austin College in Sherman to compete in different areas such as Cross-Examination, Extemporaneous Speaking, Mock Trial, and Oratory.

"Because of previous experience, I chose to participate in Oratory where I would give a 5-minute speech (in Spanish) and then answer a question given by the judge, all being tied by this year's theme of Community Equity Building," said Grecia. "Our prompt was to speak about a local leader who applied the values of Community Equity Building and has left a personal impact in our lives, for which I chose to speak about my mother. I was excited to have the opportunity to share my mom's story as it has influenced the person I am today."

After nine rounds of competition, Grecia made it to the finals and won in the category of Oratory, being one of the few Oratory champions from North Texas in the history of the National Hispanic Institute. 

"Although I am extremely happy to have won, I feel even more happy to have made an impact on many peoples lives and that my mother's story became an inspiration for many Hispanic students that also grew up with only one parent and have faced many obstacles," she said.

Moving forward, she hopes to become a director of the Oratory category for the North Texas alliance of the National Hispanic Institute and to participate in the Lorenzo De Zavala Youth Legislative Session in Colorado next summer.