Imagine a silent room. The only noise is 20 people breathing and one person speaking. The speaker, passionate about the words coming out of their mouth, spoke with courage in their voice. The speaker should be passionate, for they are talking about how they would better the world. This scenario is the annual Lions Club Speech Contest, which was held on Thursday night, Feb. 1.
The Lions Club is a community club that spreads across the world, with over 730 clubs and 20,000 members in California. What makes Ripon’s Lions Club special is they are so involved in the Ripon community. The meetings for the Lions Club takes place in the American Legion Post 190, next to the fire department.
In this speech contest, four high school students give a persuasive speech on how they would better the world. Two of the participants were RHS juniors Valerie Chun and Elias Ramirez. The other two competitors were from Ripon Christian. All speakers gave moving and unfeigned speeches, but the most personal and sincere speech was by Valerie Chun.
As Chun stated many factual statements, she made sure to make personal remarks on her childhood, and things the audience could relate to. Chun states, “I think the character of a person is often ignored compared to things like poverty and climate change, but we also have problems each and everyone of us can change in ourselves.”
This foresight into the topic not only won her the speech contest, but it also helped persuade the thinking of judges and others in the audience.
One judge, John Moyer, stated in response to the speeches, “For each speech I wrote one word down: Love, Education, Balance, and Ego. I loved how each speech was positive.”
As all four wowed the crowd, everyone knew that the contestants had truly felt strongly about his or her speech, and that they, along with many RHS students, have a bright future helping people.
Chun received 100 dollars for winning the “club” level contest and has advanced to compete at the “zone” level in March against other winners from surrounding towns.
