Sunday, April 19, 2015

Local Lawyers’ Association Offers $5,000 Scholarship Opportunity

A local lawyers’ association is offering Altadena students the opportunity to win a $5,000 scholarship.

The Pasadena Bar Association (PBA) is accepting student applications for its 5th annual Speech Scholarship Contest. Interested students should submit applications as soon as possible. This year the preliminary round will be held on May 9th from 9 a.m.to 4p.m. at La Salle High School.

The contestants will be expected to give a speech on their choice of one of three topics that the PBA provides. At the completion of the preliminary rounds, three students will move on to compete during the PBA’s Law Day luncheon on May 28, 2015 at the Pasadena Civic Auditorium’s Gold Room.

During the final round, two finalists will be given seven minutes to present their speech to approximately 150 lawyers and dignitaries. Judging by attendees will occur during the PBA lunch, with the winner announcement shortly after. Speakers will be judged by a variety of factors including, but not limited to, delivery, creativity, and mastery of the topic.

Scholarship & Awards
Individual Competitors:
1st place: $5,000
2nd place: $2,000
3rd place: $1,000
4th place: $250
5th place: $250

Team Competitors:
1st place school team: $1,000 (Donated by Christie, Parker & Hale, LLP)
2nd place school team: $500 (Donated by Forensis Group)

Junior and Senior finalists will also have the opportunity to interview with law firms for internships.

“The idea of the Speech Scholarship has always been to promote speech and debate, and motivate excelling high school students to keep pushing forward with their education goals,” said Don Schweitzer, co-founder of the Pasadena Bar Association’s Speech Scholarship program. “For this reason, we always choose an educational institution for the initial competition. This is the second time we will hold the preliminary rounds at La Salle High School. Last year we held them at Pasadena City College and the prior year they were held at Maranatha High School. The goal of the Pasadena Bar Association’s Speech Scholarship is to give local students a platform to showcase their speech and debate qualities in front of some of the top lawyers and dignitaries from our community.”

San Gabriel Valley and Los Angeles County high school students (freshmen through seniors) can register for the Speech Scholarship Contest.

Please contact the Pasadena Bar Association to request a PBA Speech Scholarship Contest registration packet: Pasadena Bar Association at info@pasadenabar.org, or call (626) 793-1422.