LHS Students Sweep Rotary/Beck Speech Awards

Lakewood High juniors swept the top four spots of the Speech category in the 76th annual Rotary Club of Lakewood & Rocky River Speech, Music, and Visual Arts Contests sponsored by the Beck Center for the Arts. Leading the way for the talented talkers was Eva Strazek, who earned $700 and moved on to compete in the District competition April 10. Rounding out the top four contestants were Andre Hallenburg ($500), Abby Hirsch ($300) and Sidney Bacon ($250).

Contest participants are students from the five Lakewood and Rocky River high schools including Lakewood High School, Lutheran High School West, Magnificat High School, Rocky River High School, and St. Edward High School. The speech contestants were asked apply the principles of Rotary international’s Four Way Test to a current ethical issue. Students are challenged to identify a topic they feel passionate about and to adopt a point of view from which they will seek to persuade others. The Four Way Test includes the questions:

Is it the truth?
Is it fair to all concerned?
Will it build goodwill and better friendships?
Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Great job by all the contest participants!