Voices of Youth Speech Competition Helps Students in Darfur

This past Thursday evening, fifteen seventh-graders at Wilde Lake Middle School participated in the second annual Voices of the Youth speech competition. This event had been rescheduled from January 25th due to a snow storm that hit our area.  

The students, selected by their peers, delivered original speeches on various issues facing our country. The speech topics included: obesity,  the War in Iraq, animal rights, standardized testing, health care and saving the arts in schools. The winning speech was about obesity. Congratulations to all of the students who participated in this competition and to the top four winners! They are:  Ileana, Franc, Abby and Amanda. What talented orators we have here at the Lake! Way to go!


I also want to commend Ms. Swank for developing this competition and helping our students become aware of the plight of students in the DarFur region of Sudan. All proceeds raised during this event will be given to the Darfur Dream Team Sister Schools project.
 
Mrs. Swank said she hoped that the students raised as much money as they did last year for the charity and that the school continues the event, and the partnership with Camp Djabel, for as long as possible. "Kids need to be listened to more and heard more because they do have some amazing ideas," she said. "I hope the kids see now that they need to be involved in their community; they need to know what's going on in their area. They shouldn't be passive; they should be questioning things and speaking out." (Source: Columbia Flier - January 20, 2011)

You rock Mrs. Swank!