Brooke senior in national speech contest

WELLSBURG - A Brooke High School senior will be competing at the national level of the Veterans of Foreign Wars Voice of Democracy speech contest this weekend in Washington, D.C.

Johnna Leary, the daughter of John and Linda Leary of Wellsburg, is advancing to the contest after placing first at the district and state levels of the annual contest and won an all-expenses-paid trip to the capital from the West Virginia VFW and Target Stores.

Leary wrote and submitted an essay and gave a speech on this year's theme, "Does America Still Have Heroes?" for the contests.

She will compete this week against 53 other high school students who are winners of their respective states or U.S. territories and represent West Virginia VFW Post 2716.

Leary also will give her speech again at the VFW Loyalty Day Dinner in May.

In addition to winning the state competition, she also has received a $25,000 scholarship for any school in West Virginia.

As a state winner and national competitor, Leary also can receive additional scholarship money ranging from $1,000 to $30,000, depending on her rank in the national competition.

While in Washington, Leary and the other state winners may have an opportunity to meet President Barack Obama. The state winners also will participate in guided tours of many locations, including the Smithsonian Institution, the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Mount Vernon Plantation and Arlington National Cemetery.

"I am really excited about this trip," Leary said. "It is a wonderful opportunity and nationally recognizes a great organization in the VFW. I am very grateful for the chance to compete at the national level and represent both Brooke High and West Virginia, and I really appreciate the generous scholarships and opportunities for furthering my education that this contest has provided."

"I would definitely recommend that underclassmen students enter the Voice of Democracy contest next year. It is really fun, requires very little time to enter and can provide unbelievable opportunities," she added.

Leary is an honors student at Brooke High School and participates in many extracurricular activities, including Key, French and Spanish clubs, Students Against Drunk Driving and the school's WBHS television station.

She has been involved on stage and behind the scenes in Brooke Hills Playhouse productions and has served as a cantor at St. John the Evangelist Church.

She plans to major in music performance and theater and minor in journalism in college.