STUDENTS ADVANCE IN ORATORICAL CONTEST

CAPE GIRARDEAU -- Two seventh-grade students from L.J. Schultz Middle School will advance to the final round of competition in the Optimist annual Oratorical Contest.

Todd Matzat and Laura Sheets will compete at the district level in Columbia on May 3-4. Two winners at the district level, a boy and a girl, will each win a $1,500 scholarship.

Carolyn Ford, gifted-coordinator, at L.J. Schultz, said this is the first time children in the seventh grade from Cape Girardeau have advanced to the district level. Matzat and Sheets have now captured three titles.

Most recently the won the Region 5 contest held in Cape Girardeau. Runner-up trophies were presented to James Fox of Cape Girardeau and Julie Bartholomew of Sikeston at the regional contest.