By RHEA-FRANCES TETLEY
Staff Writer
In March, the Crestline Lions Club hosted the second level of competition of the North Citrus Zone Lions speech contest for high school students. All three of the students competing during this faceoff had already won the speech contest at their local club. The winner of this Zone, Tatum Ristow, will be competing again, next time against other Zone winners at the Area Regional level. That Area Regional winner will speak at the Lions 405 District meeting, which will be held at Guide Dogs for the Blind of the Desert in Whitewater near Palm Springs.
The topic for the speech, “Youth Mental Health – Overcoming Barriers to Well Being,” was chosen by the California Lions last August so students could prepare. At the club level the students are allowed note cards for their speech. At the Zone level, which this competition was, the students must give their prepared speech without notes.
The timed speeches must be a minimum of five minutes in length and a maximum of 10 minutes in length. The timers for this Zone were Crestline Lions members Bonnie Hawes, Kathy Ogaz and Raymond Johnson. Overseeing this Zone Lions speech contest was North Citrus Region Chair Lion Diana Havey from the Boron Lions Club.
The mental health topic offered many options for various views and ways to support those ideas. During this competition, one student’s position was that cell phones and their excessive use and dependence on them by many were causing a problem with today’s youth. Another student explained how they believed that social media is creating a barrier to the well-being of today’s youth. These elements and other modern technology are creating some mental health problems in society that are creating problems that were not even in existence just 20 years ago and it seems to be affecting the mental stability of many of today’s youth.
The three students who competed at the Zone level were sophomore Vanessa Padilla representing the Boron Lions Club; senior Tatum Ristow representing the Big Bear Lions Club; and senior Andrew Simpson representing the Timberline Lions Club of Wrightwood.
The contest was held in Crestline at the Crest Forest Senior Center at Leisure Shores as it was somewhat centrally located between the competing Lions Club cities. The sergeant-at-arms was Lion George Hawes. He was assigned to the door because, once the contest started, no one is allowed to enter or leave the room, so the speakers would not face any disruptions.
Lion members are not allowed to be judges at the student speech contest so Crestline community leaders chosen to be judges were George Faragalli, Michelle Davis and Dirk Rinker. Lion Diana Havey, who was overseeing the event, passed out certificates of appreciation to all three judges. All three speakers also received certificates of appreciation for competing.
Tatum Ristow was determined to be the winner; she received a $150 prize. She will now compete at the Regional Area level with the potential to receive even more money.
The Lions speech contest began with the local speech contests which must be completed on or before the third Friday in February. The Zone contest is held on or before the second Friday in March. Then the Regional contest must be held on or before March 31, followed by the District contest before last Monday of April and then the Regional Area contest between all the various District winners, held on or before the third Friday of May with the final contest being held in June.
The Lions student speech contest program was started in 1938. It is only held in California. Each California Lions Club is encouraged to hold a local speech contest among students from their local high schools or among local home-schooled students from their areas, who are also eligible to participate.
The Crestline Lions Club thanks the judges for giving up their Saturday afternoon to judge the speeches, the Crest Forest Senior Citizens Club for the gracious use of their facility and the teen speakers who worked so hard to create and deliver such thoughtful, elegant and insightful speeches. They wish each of them well in their future endeavors.
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