
Pictured are Olathe Noon Optimist President Kris Kirkes; Second-place Eliza Woodside; First-place Brylee Andersen; and Third-place Drew Langston
The first level of competition on the road to the World Oratorical Championship Contest presented by Optimist International took place at the North Lindenwood Support Center March 22. Winners (boy and girl) receive first-, second-, and third-place medals and a small monetary award from the Olathe Noon Optimists.
First place winners advance to the next level of competition “Zone” competition at 1 p.m. April 2 at the North Lindenwood Support Center.
First-Place – Gold Medals
Brylee Andersen – Olathe East Griffin Minter – Olathe South
Second-Place – Silver Medals
Drew Langston – Olathe East
Sam Day – Olathe East
Third-Place – Bronze Medals
Bethany Bluel – Olathe South
Camden Tews – Olathe East
Other participants:
Olathe East – Connor Young. Tre’Von Kearney, Mychaela Burris, Cindy Zhang, Madelyn Rigdon, Mariah Matson
Olathe South – Ben Heigele, Bethany Bluel, Andrea VandenBark
(students under the age of 18 by Oct. 1, 2018 will be eligible to compete again in the 2018 competition)
Brylee and Griffin will move to the Zone Competition and winners of that competition move forward to Kansas District Competition to be held in Ottawa on April 29th at lunchtime. One boy and one girl will win a $2,500 scholarship, and one of those will be chosen to move to Optimist International Competition in St. Louis at St. Louis University on June 14. The winner of the Regional contest will receive a $5,000 scholarship (there will be 9 regions competing). On the following day, June 15, the winner of the Regional competition will compete in the World Championship and Scholarship awards will be $15,000; $10,000 and $5,000 for 1st through 3rd place winners. Presentations at the World competition will be both live and streamed presentations.
We wish our students the best of luck in advancing through the levels of competition, ultimately, if they were to win at all levels, they could receive up to $22,500 in total scholarship awards.
The Optimist International Oratorical contest began in 1928 and the World Championship was added in 2016 as a major expansion of the program.
We also want to thank the Judges who assisted: Ed Badsky, Jim Bradford, Judy Bradford, Kate Capps, Tom Kearney, and Beverly Wittenborn. Sue Baldridge and Carolyn Holland served as Timekeepers.
Kris Kirkes, President Olathe Noon Ruth Nelson, Oratorical Chair Olathe Noon Optimist Members
Filed under: News Articles | Tagged: Johnson County KS news, Olathe KS news, Olathe Noon Optimist Club, oratorical winners |
Leave a Reply