The Rotary speech is a competition between LHS and Pinkerton where you write, memorize and present a speech about an aspect of your everyday life. Junior Gretchen Murray, and freshmen Grace McElroy and Kalay Rashid took home first, second, and third place at the annual Rotary Speech Contest at Pinkerton Academy on Friday March 14.  The Rotary Contest is sponsored by Rotary Clubs, aiming to improve students’ writing and public speaking skills. All three students got offered an internship with a News Channel nearby before leaving. 

The purpose of a Rotary Speech is to be able to apply the principles of RotaryInternational’s Four-Way Test to a current ethical issue.  The speech has to be able to answer the Rotary Four-Way Test of the things they think, do, or say questions include 1. Is this 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? 

Murrary, won second overall and received a prize of $300. Murrary learned about this opportunity from her English teacher, Matthew Smith who informed the class about this opportunity.

“There was a lot of freedom with the speech,” Murray said. “I liked the creativity of getting to pick any topic that applied to my everyday life.” 

Students expressed how one of the main things that the contestants took away was how everyone was there to support each other. 

“My favorite part of the competition would have to be hanging out with the other students before the competition,” Murray said. “All of us were nervous but everyone was so friendly and we just talked to each other through the process.” 

McElroy won third overall and received a prize of $200. McElroy went into this event wearing her ‘upperclassmen hat’, feeling brave, and positive while only trying to strive to be the most proficient she could. 

“My mindset was really that I had nothing to lose,”  McElroy said. “I might as well enter as a freshman even if I don’t do well, and have learning experience for next year.”

With the Rotary Speech contest they had to have notecards, and essentially have a whole gameplan in their mind while trying to engage with the audience. This experience offered her “so many opportunities.” 

McElroy noticed that the Londonderry competitors of the Rotary Contests were all feeling the same way about the competition. Her goal was to be able to go and learn for upcoming years. McElroy’s ultimate goal was to “come home with a win.” 

The three students from LHS were able to bond and connect over the severe mental emotions they were feeling before the time that they were able to share their speeches. 

“We were all kind of nervous, so I think that helped because we were all transparent about how nervous we were,” McElroy said. 

All three of the girls were very supportive of each other, and valued trying to make the most out of their experience by valuing each other’s time spent publicly performing for one another. 

“I felt that doing the speech contest was just for me, I was just here for the experience,” McElroy said. “It would make me feel really good about myself, and prove to myself that I can do anything I put my mind to.”

•  Students from all grade levels have the ability to enter the contest
•  Tell your English teacher you are interested and they will give you a permission slip. Many teachers have information posted about speech competitions on their google classrooms