Father Bill Cosgrove, Liz O'Brien, Chair of Rockland RTL, Colleen Galvin, Colleen Brosnan

On May 7, Colleen Galvin, a senior at Albertus Magnus High School, delivered her pro-life address at the College of St. Rose in Albany in the New York State Right to Life Oratory Contest.

To advance to that level, Colleen first had to qualify as the representative of Rockland County Right to Life in the first county-level speaking contest sponsored by the organization as part of the national competition. Colleen presented her qualifying speech at St. Augustine’s Church in New City on April 12.

The members of the audience were the students of the St. Augustine’s Religious Educaton program who were meeting that night. The judges were the pastor of St. Augustine’s, Father Bill Cosgrove, and Colleen Brosnan of Nyack, former public speaking teacher and forensics coach at North Rockland High School.

In her speech, Colleen said she wanted “to be the voice for the innocent unborn children who are unable to speak for themselves.” She said that she was in a position to do that because both she and her younger brother had been adopted, and that she is “extremely thankful for the decision that both my mothers [her biological mother and her adoptive mother] decided to make . . .and thankful for the parents I have now, and thankful that I was given the right to live.”

Although Colleen did not win the state oratory contest, with its prize of $1,000 and a trip to compete at the National Right to Life Convention, we are very proud of her.

Colleen is the daughter of Jennifer and Tim Galvin of Nanuet. She has been accepted at Coastal Carolina University in Conway, SC, where she intends to major in elementary and special ed and minor in music.

At Albertus, Colleen participated in the Pro-Life Club, the drama club, Veritas (the honor choir) and was a varsity cheerleader.  She was selected to take part in the All County Music Competition.

She works four days a week at the Cold Stone Creamery at the Palisades Center Mall. Her siblings are Aeden 5, Lauren 14, and Monica 16.