Speech Trek: And the Winners Are… by Liz Jordan

from left to right: Camrick Solorio - 10th grade, Laguna Creek HS - 3rd Place Johanna Martin - 12th grade, Elk Grove HS - 4th Place Kamra Newton - 12th grade, Monterey Trail HS - 2nd Place Ciera Miller - 12th grade, Elk Grove HS - First Place.

from left to right:
Camrick Solorio – 10th grade, Laguna Creek HS – 3rd Place
Johanna Martin – 12th grade, Elk Grove HS – 4th Place
Kamra Newton – 12th grade, Monterey Trail HS – 2nd Place
Ciera Miller – 12th grade, Elk Grove HS – First Place.

The Sacramento AAUW Branch hosted its eighth annual Speech Trek Contest on Saturday, Feb. 21 at the Valley Hi-North Laguna Library Community Room.

Nine young people from five of the Elk Grove Unified School District secondary schools competed for place and prize money.   They were:

  • First Place – Ciera Miller – 12th Grade, Elk Grove HS Grade – $400
  • Second Place – Kamra Newton – 12th grade, Monterey Trail HS – $200
  • Third Place – Camrick Solorio – 10th grade, Laguna Creek HS – $100
  • Fourth Place – Johanna Martin – 12th Grade, Elk Grove HS – $50

The next step of the contest requires a DVD of the winning speech, filmed during the competition, to be entered by March 1 with the AAUW CA Speech Trek committee.  By March 10, they will have convened a group of judges to select the top five speeches from various California AAUW Branches.  The top three speakers will be invited to speak at the AAUW California Annual Meeting, April 18, 2015 at the Manhattan Beach Marriott.  There, students will compete for the First Place award of $1500.

MC Linda Patterson steered he program through each stage of competition. Our judges were all branch members who came to their judging tasks with many years of speech competition.  They were:

  • Ann Arneill-Py, PhD, retired CEO of CA Mental Health Planning Council
  • Virginia Kidd, Communications Professor Emeritus, CSUS
  • Jenny Woltz, Graduate Academic Advisor for Bellevue University

Jenny Woltz and Ann Arneill-Py are both new members and Dr. Kidd is a long-time branch member.

The Speech Trek Committee wants to thank all the members who attended to support the students and this outreach program.  Speech Trek , open to secondary student girls and boys, fosters the development of public speaking as an important life skill.

Board members attending were Cherril Peabody, President, Nancy McCabe, President-Elect and Gloria Yost, Program Director.  Anne Rhodes, Hospitality chair, and her committee furnished the muffins and sweet rolls that kept the audience, judges and competitors all refreshed.  Additional thanks to Kathy Papst who served as the Time Keeper.

This year’s Speech Trek committee was comprised this year of members Linda Patterson, Sherry Reser, Shari Beck, Liz Jordan and Ann Arneill-Py.