On May 3rd, we had a wonderful turn out of students, parents, teachers, and county commissioners, attend Flagler County’s 4-H Tropicana Speech Finalist’s competition.

Twenty-one students from 4th, 5th, and 6th grade classrooms across bravely stood up and gave their well practiced speeches one last time. It takes a lot of gumption to stand up in front of a room full of people you don’t know and speak to them for 3 minutes. It take a lot of confidence, bravery, and commitment to stand up and give a speech you wrote to all those people.

As it may be tempting to think those who made it to the final or won an award, as the students who got the most out of the competition, it is important to remember the point of the contest to begin with:

“This educational program is designed to give students experience in the preparation and delivery of a speech.”
“The 4‐H/Tropicana Public Speaking Program offers young people this opportunity and teaches
them to be better communicators – a skill which will benefit them throughout life.”

By outlining, writing, and delivering a speech, even just to a parent or classroom, students already accomplished the goal of 4-H/Tropicana Public Speaking contest. For some students that was huge accomplishment! For others, they needed a little more pressure to grow, and consequently they moved on the the next level of competition.

I was very impressed by all the speeches give on May 3rd. It was great fun to hear the creative topics, inspirational advice, and thought provoking ideas. Congratulations to everyone who competed! Everything we do here is a learning experience – our goal is to help you grow. What does Tropicana and 4-H have in common? Confident, brave, committed competitors willing to make their best better.

To watch this year’s speeches click HERE!

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