ST. JOHNSBURY, A year ago, the number 14 was just a jersey. For Max Cloutier, an eighth-grader at St. Johnsbury School, it now represents something far greater: his family's fight against his father's ALS diagnosis.
Cloutier took first place in the Novice Original Oratory category at the Vermont Middle School Speech and Debate Championship, hosted by his school on Saturday. His speech focused on his father's illness and how the family has used baseball as a way to cope.
"He shared about his family's journey since his father's diagnosis with ALS," according to a report by Amy Ash Nixon of the Caledonian-Record.
The championship event brought middle school students from across Vermont to St. Johnsbury to compete in various categories of public speaking and debate.
Photo: Artaxerxes (Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0). Photo is illustrative and not from the scene.
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