Pictured, Clermont Northeastern (CNE) and Batavia High School (BHS) students participated in the Batavia Rotary Club’s Four-Way Test Speech Contest on February 21. Those participating were Alivia Alexander (first place), Elliot Benter (second place) and Lucy Whitmer (third place) from BHS. Ethan Irwin (first place), Lydia Huff (second place) and Shelby Ruehl (third place). Photo courtesy Rotary Club of Batavia.
The Rotary Club of Batavia, Ohio hosted its annual Four-Way Test Speech Contest on February 21. Students from Clermont Northeastern High School (CNE) and Batavia High School (BHS) participated in this event which gives young adults an opportunity to develop public speaking skills while researching a subject that is of personal interest to them.
All speeches used Rotary’s Four-Way Test as a basic guideline. The Four-Way Test is a worldwide moral code used by Rotarians to help build personal and business relationships. The “test” asks four questions: 1) Is it (the topic) the truth? 2) Is it fair to all concerned? 3) Will it build goodwill and better friendships? 4) Will it be beneficial to all concerned? These questions are used by Rotarians to define what charities, businesses, and causes they support; students participating in the Batavia club’s speech contest used these questions to test their opinions toward the topics they chose.
“All of the students have worked hard on their speeches,” said Harry Snyder, President of Batavia Rotary. “We are always impressed by the topics they choose for this contest.”
Lucy Whitmer from BHS spoke about how the Four-Way Test and the four principles of 4H coincide and build community.
BHS student Elliot Benter explained the need for the Humanities in our communities.
Alivia Alexander of BHS discussed the need for access to the arts for all people.
Lydia Huff from CNE explained the importance of participating in youth sports.
CNE student Shelby Ruehl chose the topic of how grade point averages (GPAs) are not the best measure of academic ability.
Ethan Irwin of CNE discussed the dangers of social media.
Batavia Rotary members judged the students on several areas during their speeches. Participants were scored on whether their speech touched on all four aspects of the Four-Way Test, whether it displayed an understanding of the Test itself, originality of topic application, organization of speech, and language usage. Students were also judged on speech delivery which included poise, enunciation, non-verbal communication (body expressions), use of voice, and the ability to impress an audience.
Once tallied, one first-place winner from each school was chosen to represent the Batavia Club at the Rotary District 6670 Speech Contest on March 26. Alivia Alexander of BHS and Ethan Irwin of CNE placed first; they will both receive $250 when they compete at Wright State University against 30+ students from 52 Rotary clubs.
Elliot Benter of BHS and Lydia Huff of CNE received second place and $75 each; Lucy Whitmer of BHS and Shelby Ruehl of CNE received third place and $25 each.
“Our thanks to teachers from both Batavia and CNE,” said Snyder. “Both schools spent time helping the students with their topics and prepping them for public speaking.”
Batavia Rotary hosts the Four-Way Test Speech Contest each year. For more information about this and other Rotary programs or to attend a Batavia Rotary meeting in the future, visit www.batavia-rotary.org.