CARTHAGE, Mo. — The annual Flanigan Speech Contest took place on Thursday, March 30, 2023 at Carthage High School. The event highlights the best and brightest in the categories of Oratory/Declamation, Extemporaneous Speaking and Sight Reading.
Mr. Bryan Whyte, Speech and Debate Coach for Carthage High School, again organized the event with the help of fellow educators Ashley Rouse and Lea Ann Keeling, and Matt and Tracy Flanigan. Mr. Whyte has led the speech and debate team for over 17 years in Carthage, and encourages his students to participate in the competition each year. “The Flanigan Speech Competition encourages students to use public speaking and critical thinking skills to demonstrate their knowledge and advocate for issues that are important to them. It helps showcase the education students receive at CHS by drawing on information that they learn across the curriculum of their high school years,” Whyte stated.
The competition was initiated 50 years ago in 1973 by John H. Flanigan, grandfather to Matt and a prominent Carthage attorney for over 60 years. Mr. Flanigan passed away just the next year, but left a legacy in his wake of fairness, good citizenship and the pursuit of civil rights for every citizen of the United States. During his pursuit of a Missouri Senate seat, Mr. Flanigan wrote an article for a July 1926 issue of the Carthage Press condemning the Ku Klux Klan and its attempt to alienate certain religious and minority populations. A brilliant orator, Mr. Flanigan established a $10,000 trust at UMB-Carthage for the contest, using the interest and dividends, about $500 a year at that time, for prize money.
Over time, bank interest rates declined, so John’s grandson, Matt and his wife, Tracy, took action to revive John’s legacy by contributing to the principal balance in the bank and thus, increasing the payout for awards. As time went on, Matt and Tracy’s son, Bren, became a highly decorated speaker under the instruction of Bryan Whyte, and won the 2012 Missouri State Championship in Extemporaneous Speaking, further propagating the interest of the Flanigan family’s speech contest. Following the death of Matt’s father, George Flanigan – a local attorney, elite orator and judge with the Missouri Court of Appeals and also the youngest son of John – Matt and Tracy contributed a significant amount to the fund to ensure it lived on in perpetuity. Between John, George, Matt and Bren, the Flanigan Speech Contest has fulfilled its legacy to provide a platform for Carthage High School students to exercise their public speaking skills.
Many years you will see Matt and Tracy Flanigan, as well as Matt’s brother, David, and his wife Betsy judging the competition. As supporters of “public School roots” and the educations that their children Bren and Anne both received, they feel it is important to recognize the courage and composure of participants. While acknowledging the nerve-wracking nature of speaking in front of a group of people, both Matt (a former bank executive and board member at Leggett and Platt) and Tracy (a former corporate attorney and television broadcaster) attribute a large portion of success in their jobs to mastering speaking in public. Matt likes to use the “2 P’s approach” – Prepare and Practice! Then do it all again, while remembering that the audience always tends to be more compassionate and forgiving than we may give them credit for.
Thank you to the Flanigan family for their continued support of a competition that is so vital to the development our young people.
This year’s competition saw 25 participants with the top awards received by students in the following categories:
Oratory/Declamation
- Lily Smith
- Anahi Guzman Lopez
- Brooke Meeks
Sight Reading
- Sage Gonzalez
- Ariana Hurley
- Lola Chapman and Macy Thomas
Extemporaneous Speaking
- Matthew Bysor
- Sara Eddington
- Jeffrey Portillo
Congratulations to this year’s winners!
