BY LENA MAGEE
The Westside Express
The Merced County Speech Festival awarded three fourth-graders from Westside Elementary in a ceremony on April 10. Jaycee Walsh and Jasneet Chouhan placed first and second, respectively, and Samantha Moran Tizoc received an honorable mention.
Eleven school districts participated in the speech festival from March 31 to April 4 at the Merced County Office of Education. Schools could send three students from each grade, fourth through eighth, to represent their school in the competition.
In February, Westside Elementary held a speech competition for 40 students from fourth through sixth grade, of which seven went on to participate in the Merced County Speech Festival: sixth-grader Kayley Guerrero, fifth-graders Citlali Berdudco, Etta Nelson and Maya Halloran, and fourth-graders Walsh, Chouhan and Moran Tizoc.
At the county level, more than 100 students participated in the competition, and of those, 23 participated in the fourth-grade competition.
Students’ speeches fell into five categories: persuasive, tall tale, legend, fable or a TED-style talk. Students wrote and orally presented their speeches in two to eight minutes. Judges for the competition scored the speeches on structure, speech development, effectiveness and delivery.
Chouhan spoke about children’s literacy and the importance of reading. Chouhan’s speech was about education for girls and Malala Yousafzai. Moran Tizoc spoke on women’s rights, such as equal pay for women.
Westside Elementary 6th-grade teacher Daniel Ellersick and Librarian Debbie Price collaborated to support the students.
Ellersick, who has been teaching for over 20 years, often opens his room at recess to look over their speeches and work with the students on delivery. Price also opens the library for the students to come in and practice their speeches.
“These girls are a lot of fun to work with. They’re all friends, so when they got done with their school work, they would practice together. They knew one another’s speeches, so they could help each other,” said Price.
Price expressed pride in the students’ hard work and achievement, and excitement for where their skills could take them in the future.
“These students who placed did it in the first year they can compete. They can compete all four years, all the way to eighth grade. These kids caught on quickly, and now they can move forward to the next competition next year with things they’ve already learned. These skills, they can take with them for life,” said Price.
