Schools
Falcon Ridge Students Compete in Speaking Contest
The Optimist Club Oratorical Contest asked students what the first thing they would do if they were leader of the free world.
Two Falcon Ridge Middle School students on Thursday advanced to the next round of an Optimist Club speaking contest, after competing against 18 of their peers to explain what they would do were they the leader of the free world.
Students Katie C. and Ben D. came away with first place honors at Falcon Ridge, where the Richfield Optimist Club sponsored the local level of the contest. They continue on for a chance to win a $2,500 scholarship.
Speech topics ranged from seeking world peace, to fighting pollution, to intensifying math and science education.
Optimist Club member Barb Kritzman said she was impressed with the speeches she watched.
“Those kids are so wonderful,” Kritzman said. “It’s a pleasure to watch them.”
Optimist Club, an international organization with the mission of “bringing out the best in kids,” offers programs including essay contests, sports tournaments and a campaign against childhood cancer.
Optimist Club Zone 10 President Linda Grulke handed out the awards at the event. The student speeches wowed her, too.
“They put some real thought into it,” Grulke said.
Grulke said that four clubs in the metro area are sending contest winners to the zone 10 competition in Bloomington. The male and female winners there will advance to the district finals in Fargo, ND, where they’ll compete for the scholarship.
Falcon Ridge’s seventh-grade communications teachers, Becky Ruder, Michelle Howe and Christie Logan, helped students prepare for the contest.
“We showed them how to give a speech, but after that they did most of it on their own,” Logan said. “They’re pretty amazing for 12- and 13-year-olds.”
This is the third year Falcon Ridge has participated in the contest.
While every seventh grader was required to prepare a speech for their communications course in school, those who wanted to competed in the contest enticed with extra credit.
More than 100 students competed in the qualifying round earlier this month, and the top 10 boys and ten girls advanced to Thursday’s final.
“The biggest thing it gives them is confidence,” Howe said. “It takes a lot of courage to stand in front of judges and read something you’ve written.”
The challenging topic of the speech pushed students to think about how they could solve on the world’s problems, Logan said.
“This contest shows them they have something to say," she said. "They have a voice in the world that will matter."
