In all, 20 fourth and fifth-grade students from Los Alamitos Elementary School sought to persuade or inform their peers and judges during a speech contest on Friday, Jan. 25.
Each student presented a unique topic that ranged from why kids should not have a Facebook account – from a kid’s perspective – to important lessons that can be learned while engaging in Taekwondo.
In all, 20 fourth and fifth-grade students from Los Alamitos Elementary School sought to persuade or inform their peers and judges during a speech contest on Friday, Jan. 25.
Each student presented a unique topic that ranged from why kids should not have a Facebook account – from a kid’s perspective – to important lessons that can be learned while engaging in Taekwondo.
Community judges included Los Alamitos Mayor Warren Kusumoto, Police Chief Todd Mattern, LAUSD board members Meg Cutuli and Karen Russell, and Los Alamitos District Director of Special Projects Norma DelRio. Each commented that it was extremely difficult to narrow the field down to the top three due to the high quality of speeches.
After much deliberation, the three winners were selected. They were the following:
First Place – Lucinda Marvel, who spoke about the need to reduce consumption of plastic bottles and its negative impact on the ocean;
Second Place – Blake Ravelo, who informed the audience about the significance of mucus in spite of most people’s initial reaction to it;
Third Place – Fernanda Flores, who talked about the importance of studying hard and getting good grades.
The finalists joined the top three. They included: Lianne Alson, Mateo Elizararras, Giselle Flint, Sarah Gamarnik, Joseph Garcia, Vanessa Godinez, Analiese Gonzalez, Felix Gonzalez, Daniel Jacot, Elijio Mondragon, Christina Morris, Enrique Navarro, Sam Phelps, Alyssa Redrup, Niky Stefanescu, Jin Swun, and Saige White.
