Mayor Ed Finneran presented a Village citation on Mar. 23 to eight-year-old Owen Galarza, recognizing his first place speech at the Frederick Douglass Oratorical Contest for the second consecutive year. Galarza, a third-grade student at Stratford Elementary, delivered his speech before an audience at the historic site in Washington, D.C. in February.
The citation stated: “The Village of Garden City is honored to recognize Owen Galarza for his commitment and hard work, and for inspiring family, friends, neighbors and classmates.”
The annual contest is hosted by the National Park Service and is open to students ages six to eighteen. The event encourages participants to experience “the same transformative power of language that Frederick Douglass experienced as a young man” by reciting from memory a portion of one of Douglass’s speeches before a panel of judges.
For this year’s competition, Galarza chose “Our Composite Nation,” a lecture by Douglass that discusses his vision for a United States built on diversity and equality.
Reflecting on his experience with public speaking at the contest, Galarza said: “At first I was nervous but then once I went through it it felt really easy. The second time I did it I had no pressure at all because I already knew that I could do it again once more.”
