Bio: Esselman, Tom (Scholarship - 1978)

Contact: Dolores (Mohr) Kenyon
E-mail: dolores@wiclarkcountyhistory.org 

Surnames: Esselman, Allen, Price

----Source: Clark County Press (Neillsville, Clark Co., WI) 2/23/1978

Esselman, Tom (Scholarship - 1978)

A 16-year-old Loyal Scout won a $1,250 college scholarship in the finals of the “Reader’s Digest” Association-Boy Scouts of America National Public Speaking Contest in Washington, D.C., February 14.

It marked a second-place finish for Tom Esselman, Rt. 2 Loyal, in a contest which originally involved over 3,000 young men and women in communities across the nation. He spoke on the theme, “Watchword for the Future.”

Esselman is a member of Scout Troop 49, chartered to the Loyal Rotary Club. The youth represented the Chippewa Valley Council and the East Central Region, BSA.

The speech contest, held before several hundred Scout officials and community and federal government leaders, is a high-light of the annual anniversary celebration of the Boy Scouts of America, which this year is marking its 68th birthday.”

A junior at Loyal High School, Esselman—on the basis of his placement in the speech contest finals—becomes a member of Scouting’s 1978 Report to the Nation youth delegation, which is currently in the nation’s capital for a week-long series of program with government and industry leaders and others.

The contest, now in its eighth year, is open to both Scouts (ages 13-17) and to Explorers (coed, ages 15-20), with parallel winners in each category. The young adults competed for a total of $11,500 in scholarships funded by the Reader’s Digest Association; Local unit, council area and regional eliminations pared the original field of some 3,000 to twelve finalists.

John Allen, vice president of “Reader’s Digest,” and Harvey L. Price, chief Scout executive, presented the scholarship awards.