Students take on issues of the day in speech contest

February 6, 2004

"Democracy -- Is It for Everyone?" was the topic addressed by four Oakley students during the Oakley-Delta Lions Club's Student Speakers Contest last week. Each student was asked to speak on the topic for between five and 10 minutes. The winner of the contest got scholarship money and a chance to move up to winning an even bigger scholarship.

The four contestants -- Elizabeth Moreno, Rocio Gomez, Melissa Merchant and Ryan Rodgers -- are all members of Jill Johnson's Speech and Debate class at Freedom High School. They have been preparing their speeches since mid-December.

Johnson assigns everyone in her class the speech project, then she picks out the best submissions to compete for the Oakley-Delta Lions contest. This year's winner was Ryan Rogers. He will need to take some extra time to memorize his speech as he moves up to the next level. He is scheduled to compete against the winners from other East County clubs in March.

This time Ryan won $50 for his speech. At the next level he could win up to $75. If he is able to make it beyond that level he will go on to compete against all the Lions Club winners in the region and have a shot at a $125 award. Of course, this is small potatoes stuff compared to the district-wide contest where 16 winners each receive $3,000 scholarships, and the area contest where four winners get $6,000 scholarships, and the final contest which offers a $9,000 scholarship for the best speech from all the Lions Clubs in California and Nevada.

Being a past judge of this contest I can tell you that the hardest part is deciding who should win. To keep things fair, the Lions Club has to find four judges who aren't Lions Club members. The judges then write up a score sheet for each student. In most contests the student with the highest score wins, but with the speech contest there are other variables. For one thing there are time limits. Students lose points if they go over 10 minutes or under five minutes.

According to the Lions Club, the main purpose of the contest is to provide an opportunity for competitive public speaking among students on a subject of vital interest to the contestants and to the American people as a whole.

It is interesting to look at some of the topics that this contest has had over the years. In 1937 the subject was "Americanism." Coming into the height of World War II, the 1941 subject was "Our Nation's Security." At the end of the War, in 1945, the subject was "My Responsibility as a Young American to Lasting World Peace." I think it would have been interesting to hear the speeches from 1956, which was on the topic of "My Place in the World of 1976." I can only imagine what the students thought the values would be in the 1970s.

In 1962 the topic was "Conformity -- A Real Challenge for Me." In the '70s the issues were raised about education and government policies. In the '80s, nuclear uses and misuses and "Transportation 2001 -- How Will We Get There?" were top issues.

From now on the competition is going to get tougher for the contestants. In this stage, Ryan and his fellow speakers were able to have their speeches on regular letter-size paper. Next time they can only have three-by-five cards. As the contest moves from level to level they will eventually not be allowed to use cards at all. They have to stick completely to the speech they presented at the first contest. Sounds pretty hard to me, but the rewards are great. The winning student will have quite a nest egg for college.

For Ryan, that will mean the chance to ultimately go to Sacramento State where he plans to earn a business degree with a minor in politics. Someday he plans to work with his father in their family business, which is insulating high-rise buildings. His father is now working on some of the newest high-rises in San Francisco. Rogers feels that he is ready for the next step of the contest and is looking forward to competing and taking his shot for the biggest prize.

Roni Gehlke's column on life in Oakley appears each week in the Brentwood News.

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