Withers Elementary School student Luke Nayfa is advancing to the semifinals in the 22nd Annual Gardere Martin Luther King Jr. oratory competition.
Luke is one of 19 Dallas ISD students to have advanced to the semifinals, which will take place from 6-8 p.m. on Tuesday, Dec. 10 at the Dallas ISD headquarters on Ross.
The competition, sponsored by law firm Gardere Wynne Sewell LLP, was created to celebrate Dr. King’s legacy and to encourage the writing and oratory skills of in fourth and fifth grade elementary school students. This year’s prompt is,“If Dr. King were speaking at a March on Washington today, what would he say?”
On Tuesday, the semifinalists will be narrowed down to eight finalists that will compete on Jan. 17, 11 a.m.-1 p.m., at the Majestic Theatre.
Dwight Francis, co-chair of Gardere’s diversity committee, says “the contest encourages scholarship while reinforcing the need for unity and the vital human traits of compassion and justice — traits that are crucial throughout the community.”
