Date:  January 24, 2003
Contact: Irene Cromer
(703) 791-8720
 

Five Prince William County middle and high school students won top honors and were winners in the thirteenth annual Martin Luther King Youth Oratorical Contest that was held on January 20, 2003.  Dominque Steele, a junior at Potomac High School, won “Best Before the Judges” and Melissa Albright, a senior at Gar-Field High School, won “Best Before the Audience” at the high school level.    Sixth grade Benton Middle School student Kimberly Walls won in both categories at the middle school level.  Tahanna Nealy, a sixth-grader at Pennington Traditional School, and Victoria Nguyen, an eighth-grader at Fred Lynn Middle School, also were winners.
 This year’s theme was “To Birmingham by Way of Tuskegee.”  Students from Prince William County Public Schools and  Manassas City Schools each presented a speech that compared the oratorical and political views of Martin Luther King and Booker T. Washington.   

The Prince William County Schools Education Foundation, Manassas City Schools Education Foundation and the Manassas Park Schools Education Foundation provided $300 Savings Bonds to the speakers.