Christabel James, a fifth-grade student at Desert Valley Elementary School, captured first place at the 39th annual Peoria Unified School District Patriotic Speech Contest.
Desert Valley students are given the opportunity to select a topic, write a short speech and deliver it — something Christabel quickly embraced.
“She jumped right on that,” said Stephanie, Christabel’s mother. “(She) was able to get past her class level, her school level and then ended up going to district (and) got first place in her grade level.”…