Sixty Washington County youth presented their 4-H speeches recently at Daniel Boone High School and the first place winners in grades 4th-8th will be representing the Upper 8 Eastern Region Competition on Feb. 28. Learning to be a good speaker is something that will be useful throughout a student’s lifetime. Good public speakers are made, not born. 4-H members in 4th & 5th grade are taught three basic ways to begin a speech. The 6th-8th grade are trained in seven different ways to start a speech and are introduced to hand gestures, movement and how to create an interactive speech. 4-H public speaking contest gives youth workforce preparation skills, builds self-esteem, confidence and helps them overcome stage fright and teaches them how to overcome or deal with nervousness.
Washington County has so many participants that for 4th, 5th and 6th grade we have two rooms for each division and the top 3 winners per room advance to a second round. From those top finalist, we arrive at the county winners.
Top winners were: 4thgrade, Peyton Kellner, first, Madison Fletcher, second, Avery Cunningham, third; 5th grade, Olivia Castle, first, Alissa Smith, second, Nate Walters, third; 6th grade, Grace Kellner, first, Eric Rice, second, Delancey Laws, third; 7th grade, Dylan LaVoie, first, Rhett Carver, second, William Hobbs, third, and 8th grade, Matty McKee, first, Anthony Vaughn, second, and Izabella Strapp, third. Other finalist who advance to round two were: Bella Ferguson, Brady Bosken, Calyssa Scott, Mattie Smith, Alanna Privette, Aiden Mullikin, Jake Fox, Megan Nesmith, Ella Carver, Tessa Arney, Nora Walters, Elijah Dugger, Mattalyn Fouch, Katie Campbell, Taylor Konnick, Connor Bailey, Dailey Carder, Lydia Politz and Allison Valentine. Nearly all Washington County Schools were represented in the contest. All participants were winners because they won their school and they competed in the county contest. Each 4-H’er presenting was given purple superior performance ribbons.
8th grade Public Speaking Finalist
Left to right: Matty McKee, Allison Valentine, Izabella Strapp, Lydia Politz and Anthony Vaughn
5th Grade Public Speaking Finalist
Left to right: Olivia Castle, Alissa Smith, Alanna Privette, Mattie Smith, Jake Fox, Ayden Mullikin, and Nate Walters.
6th Grade Public Speaking Finalist
Left to right: Megan Nesmith, Delancey Laws, Tessa Arney, Grace Kellner, Ella Carver, and Eric Price.
4th Grade Public Speaking Finalist
Left to right: Avery Cunningham, Peyton Kellner, Calyssa Scott, Brady Bosken, Bella Ferguson, and Madison Fletcher.
