Lakewood High Students Sweep Rotary Speech Contest

Press release from Lakewood City School District:

From left: Principal Mark Walter, Grace Lamparyk, Helen Roche, Alex Hodson, Lydia Kress, and teacher Amy Garritano.

Congratulations to the four Lakewood High juniors who swept the competition in the 77th annual Rotary Club of Lakewood & Rocky River Speech Contest sponsored by Beck Center for the Arts! In the final round that took place March 28, Alex Hodson placed first and earned $750. Rounding out the top four places following Alex were Grace Lamparyk ($500), Helen Roche ($300), and Lydia Kress ($250).

Contest participants are students from the five Lakewood and Rocky River high schools including Lakewood High School, Lutheran High School West, Magnificat High School, Rocky River High School, and St. Edward High School. The speech contestants were asked apply the principles of Rotary international’s Four Way Test to a current ethical issue. Students are challenged to identify a topic they feel passionate about and to adopt a point of view from which they will seek to persuade others. The Four Way Test includes the questions:

Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

As the winner, Alex will represent the Rotary Club of Lakewood & Rocky River at the Rotary District 6630 Speech Finals at Kent Roosevelt High School on April 9.

All award winners for the speech, music and visual arts contest will be honored for their work and awarded their prize money the Awards Reception on April 11 at Beck Center.

This press release was produced by Lakewood City School District. The views expressed here are the author’s own.