WABASH – Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club reported Jason Benyousky won first place at the Indiana North District Optimist Oratorical Finals at the Honeywell Center in Wabash on April 27.
Benyousky, an Edgewood Middle School eighth-grader, won the local contest March 22 in Warsaw, and represented the Club in both the zone and district contests.
He was awarded a $2,500 college scholarship and the right to represent the local district at the Middle America Region Contest on July 19 at the Center of Global Studies at St. Louis University.
He will compete against speakers from Indiana South, Illinois, Missouri East, Missouri West and Kansas districts. The winner will get an additional $5,000 scholarship and will compete the next day in the World Championships with winners from eight other districts.
The Optimist International Oratorical Contest is 91 years old, having started in 1928.
The Indiana North District Oratorical scholarships are funded in perpetuity by Gary Addison, a retired Muncie school teacher, Past Indiana North District governor and Past OI Foundation president.
