Fifth Grader Wins 2023 MLK Speaking Competition at Houston ISD

Houston ISD starts MLK vacation early. On Friday, the district hosted the 27th annual MLK Speaking Competition. Twelve fourth and fifth grade students from various elementary schools in the district gave presentations ranging from three to five minutes in length. This year’s theme was “What Dr. King would tell us today about hope for tomorrow.”

The competition was organized by the law firm Foley and Laudner in 1993 to inspire children to learn more about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and develop their writing and speaking skills. The competition took a two-year hiatus due to the pandemic.

“The purpose of the competition is to keep the memory of Dr. King alive,” said Claude Trice, a partner at the law firm Foley. “The main thing we want to do is [to] remember why we have an MLK Day celebration – in honor of Dr. King, remember what we did.”

Tris said there were about 24 schools in the competition, and each school had a winner selected. From there, a semi-finalist competition was held which eventually narrowed the competition down to 12 finalists.

The finalists for 2021-2022 are:

• Camila Alfaro, Sutton elementary
• Masyn Mourning, Burrus Elementary School
• Arianna Guillory, Blackshire Primary School
• Joy Nsude, Valley West Elementary School
• Keinner De Leon, Crespo elementary
• Ellis Britton, Briarmeadow Elementary School
• Xavier Holmes Jr. Windsor Village Primary School
• Cowin McCormick, Pleasantville Elementary School
• Zaria Jones, Thompson Elementary School
• Marchioness Embers, Cornelius Elementary
• Candence Smith, Elementary Law
• Sensleigh’s Journey, Young Apprentice

According to Tris, it was important for this competition to involve students so that they could learn more about Dr. King.

“We think it’s important for students to think about Dr. King, read about him, do what they need to do to be able to give these speeches in the first place – which requires them to do some reading, some thinking and some learning,” said Tris.”

The competition also required students to be creative. They were judged on delivery, stage performance, propriety, content interpretation, and memorization.

Candence Smith, a fifth grader in law school, won the competition. She said she was shocked when her name was called.

“I was thinking about what’s going on in the world, I thought they really just called me, words couldn’t describe what I felt in my head,” she said.

Smith said she worked hard for several months and even during the Christmas break to prepare for Friday’s competition. She said she was proud to honor Dr. King with her speech.

“I honor Dr. King,” she said. “And that’s about him, and I want everyone to know that, we already know what to do in the world to get better – why don’t we do it.”

Candence received $1,000 and was named the winner of the MLK Speech Competition this year. The runner-up received $500 and the third-place winner received a $300 prize. The rest of the finalists did not leave empty-handed, as they received $100 each.