Wednesday evening, Mar. 4th, the Rotary club of Burton-Middlefield held its annual “4-WAY TEST” speech contest at Welshfield Inn in Troy Twp.
Two contestants, both from Berkshire High School, competed for first place honors.
Photo L-R: Whitney Davis and Francesca Mandalfino
Francesca Mandalfino, a senior at Berkshire spoke first. She was supported by the attendance of her family father Tony and mother Betsy along with her boy friend Caleb. Her topic was “The silent conquering: How artificial intelligence is re-shaping humanity” was well thought out and put together and professionally delivered.
The second speaker, Whitney Davis, a junior at Berkshire and supported by her family, father Matt, mother Elizabeth and sister Allison. Her speech topic was “Early specialization in youth sports”. Since Whitney is already a very active and involved athlete and a member of a high level travelling softball team her talk supported her early decisions to work hard and achieve all she could through sports.
Both speakers were supported by Lynn Hunter, an English teacher and speech advisor at Berkshire. She had much to be proud of with the performances of two of her students.
Francesca took first place and a $500 check from the club with Whitney taking home the second place prize of $300 and encouragement to come back and compete next year when she is a senior.
The club had nothing but praise for the two future leaders. The 4-WAY-TEST Speech contest is just one area that Burton-Middlefield participates in to support youth.
Scholarships at three local high schools, RYLA at Hiram College, The World Community Service Counsel in Wisconsin, the club’s new endowed scholarship for nursing at Kent State Geauga, scouting, our recently re-activated Interact program at Berkshire and others show our strong support of youth and hopefully, the future humanitarian work that is the backbone of Rotary.
Yours in Service -
Bob Johnson, PDG
Secretary, Rotary Club of Burton-Middlefield