Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club Announces Applications For Public Speaking Contest
Posted
Staff Report-
The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club announced that applications for its annual public speaking contest are being accepted. According to a news release from the club, “There are at least two lessons we ought to have learned from our recent national election: First, we live in a society with too much animosity and negativism and, second, our youth have a lot to say about that. That’s what makes the 2017 Optimist International Oratorical Contest theme so timely – ‘What the World Gains from Optimism.’ This competition provides the youth of our community a forum to share their ideas and have them heard by the world.” This is a tiered contest in which participants first take part in the local contest with winners moving on to further levels, ending at the world championship level. The local contest, sponsored by the Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club, will be held at the Kosciusko County courthouse in the Courtroom Feb. 24. Prizes for local winners include an iPad Mini, an Android tablet and a Fitbit Charge HR. Winners at the district level are eligible to receive scholarships up to $2,500. There is no cost to enter, however the deadline for applications is Feb. 22. To be eligible, youth have to be 17 years of age or younger as of Oct. 1, 2016. Interested youth and/or their parents may download an application and list of rules by visiting the Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club website at www.warsawoptimist.org and clicking the link at the top of the page for “2017 Oratorical Contest.” Completed applications can be mailed to 2017 Oratorical Contest, 504 S. Colfax St., Warsaw, IN 46580. One of the purposes of the Optimist Club is “to aid and encourage the development of youth in the belief that the giving of one’s self in service to others will advance the well-being of humankind, community life and the world,” the release states. The Warsaw Breakfast Optimist Club donated around $30,000 this past year to youth-oriented activities in the community. Weekly meetings start at 6:30 a.m. Wednesdays with breakfast at the Shrine Building, Kosciusko County Fairgrounds, with the one-hour meeting beginning at 7 a.m.
