For most students, Christmas break means a chance to forget about school work, relax and unwind.

But Butler High School junior Kasea Belle Losch spent her Christmas break memorizing a 10-minute speech about the United States Constitution.

On March 12, her hard work paid off.

Kasea, 16, won the Pennsylvania Oratorical Constitutional Speech Contest, becoming the first Butler High School student to achieve the honor.

“It’s incredible, but it’s humbling,” she said. “I was so honored to represent my school and county at the state contest.”

Next month she will move on to the national contest in Indianapolis, where she’ll compete with students from the United States and from as far away as Mexico, France and the Philippines.

During the contest, sponsored by the American Legion, students must speak on some aspect of the Constitution, focusing on the duties and obligations of citizens. The contestants must prepare an eight- to 10-minute speech, which they deliver from memory at the contest; no cue cards are allowed. Kasea is sponsored locally by the Butler American Legion Post 117.

Her speech explored the amendments made to the Constitution as a result of war.

Her speech touches on the first, 13-15 and 26th amendments and covers, among other topics, the draft, freedom of speech, slavery and the voting age.

Contestants are then asked to answer randomly assigned topics for which they must prepare four additional three- to five-minute speeches.

But to Kasea, it’s not work.

“I love being on stage, I love American history,” she said. “I thoroughly enjoy doing this.”

While she knew of the contest — her sister, Anchor, competed last year — it wasn’t until her history teacher, Jon McKay brought it to her attention that the teen “took it and ran with it.”

Although he looked over her speeches, McKay stresses Kasea did all of the work, and he was thrilled to hear of her accomplishment at the state level.

“I wish I could say I was surprised,” he said of her win. “She is just fantastic up there.”

John Pritchard of the Butler American Legion has been with the oratorical contest for 27 years.

“We’ve had kids from Butler High School do very well, but Belle is the first student from Butler High School to win the state of Pennsylvania,” he said. “Belle has a command presence about her when she is on stage.”

Kasea wrote her speech over a weekend and spent her Christmas break from school memorizing and tweaking the piece.

The teen had to win four competitions including those at the county, tri-county and Western Pennsylvania levels, before securing her spot at the state contest.

“When I won for Western Pennsylvania, I was nervous,” she recalled. “I thought, ‘Oh my gosh, I’m representing all these people, I have to do them proud.’”

But once she stepped on the stage, Kasea said she was “confident and comfortable.”

Her mother, Mary Jo Losch, a Naval reservist, was gone for a month on duty when Kasea began her work for the contest. She returned to the news that her daughter had won the local contest and was moving to the tri-county level.

“She did it on her own, I had no idea,” Mary Jo Losch said. “The first time I saw her I was blown away. She brings it to life, she makes it exciting.”

Kasea, who said her 10-minute speech is “ingrained in me,” is preparing for the national contest by practicing and researching her assigned topics, which include habeas corpus and cruel and unusual punishment.

“There’s always more to add, always change,” she said. “I like to improve and change them depending on the court cases that come in.”

She is a member of the Junior ROTC and hopes to attend the U.S. Naval Academy.

“My all-time goal is to join the military,” she said. “When I was born I knew I wanted to serve.”