Danny Federico
reporter3.riverbendnews@gmail.com
Lafayette Elementary School (LES) students steeled their nerves on Thursday, Feb. 20, for the annual 4-H Speech Contest. The event was sponsored by Duke Energy and highlighted the public speaking skills of the school's fourth and fifth-grade students.
The competition began in the classrooms, where students wrote and recited speeches on topics of their choice. From there, the top 20 students were selected to advance. Judges then narrowed the competitors down to five finalists from each grade level. These 10 students then competed on Thursday for first, second and third-place honors and the chance to advance to the district competition.
This year's speeches were evaluated by three local judges with experience in both judging and public speaking. Contestants were scored on the uniqueness of their topic, their ability to stay within the time limit of two to three minutes, and their ability to effectively engage with the audience.
Competitors included Rylie Creel, Caylin Floyd, Evee Gresham, Tatum Hart, Keelan Lamb, Libby Morgan, Greg Prine, Lexie Riley, Carlei Ruff and Reece Walker.
In the end, Lamb took first place with his speech about Disney World. Hart earned second place with his speech on baseball, while Floyd took third place with her speech about a vacation to Cades Cove, Tenn. All three students will advance to the district competition, which will take place in May.