Doty takes second place at area competition
Once a year, the Hollister Rotary Club holds the Richard D. King
Annual Youth Speech Contest to support talented young people they
believe will be the country’s future leaders. The purpose of the
speech contest is to increase one’s personal knowledge of being
able to speak well before a group, to increase the public’s
knowledge of what the Rotary is and does throughout the world, and
to provide all high school contestants an opportunity to win prizes
as the top public speaker.
Doty takes second place at area competition
Once a year, the Hollister Rotary Club holds the Richard D. King Annual Youth Speech Contest to support talented young people they believe will be the country’s future leaders. The purpose of the speech contest is to increase one’s personal knowledge of being able to speak well before a group, to increase the public’s knowledge of what the Rotary is and does throughout the world, and to provide all high school contestants an opportunity to win prizes as the top public speaker.
Sam Doty took first place in the county this year and second in the area competition. He delivered a speech based on the theme of “make dreams real.” Doty had initially participated in last year’s Rotary Speech contest and received second place in the club level. Doty said he felt it was a good experience and returned for another try. When delivering his speech, Doty used his experience of his first leadership conference and mustered all his confidence to make his speech both unique and intriguing.
“I gave confidence in my speech,” Doty said. “I just let it all hang out there.”
Though Doty only made it as far as the second level, the Rotary Speech Contest goes as far as four different levels; club, area, regional and district. A Rotary Speech Club winner could win as much as $1,550 in total if they win at all four levels.
“This really helps later in life,” said Laura Wiener, a Rotary club member. “Especially for things like job interviews.”
The Rotary Club not only helps students on becoming good leaders, but also gives scholarship money. The Club members try very hard to give back to the students. Last year they raised $18,000 to give to San Benito High School students. The club does other things such as building schools in third-world countries and donating to the battered women’s shelter. In the past, Rotary clubs even contributed to eradicating polio.
