Our Assistant Governor John Hockreiter welcomed our two contestants for Round 2 of the Speech Contest.
Kayla Fleming represented the Rotary Club of Morrisville Vermont. She is as student at Green Mountain Tech. She is interested in pursuing a career in nursing. She is already licensed as a certified nursing assistant. She is one of 9 children.
Jintao Yue represented the Rotary Club of Lebanon. He is a junior at Kimball Union Academy. Jintao’s from Tianjin, China, and he has great passions in acting, singing, video-production, and public speaking. He enjoys studying science too.
Kayla was first to speak. Here are a few quotes from her talk:
For as long as I can remember I have wanted to help people; especially the people I have grown so fond of in our little community. I didn’t care how I helped them, whether it was carrying their groceries to their car, putting a bandaid on a paper cut, or just being there for someone who was having a hard time. The older I became, the more I wanted to help others and the more I became interested in medical jobs. Over the past few years I’ve come to realize that I want to help people all the time, and what better way to help someone than to be a caregiver for them? As I explored the medical world of caregivers more, I began to realize just how much work goes into caring for people. It would be impossible for one person to help all of these people that need care. Teamwork is so important when it comes to providing care for the community
The best leaders don't set out to be a leader, they don't set out to be heroes-- they set out to fix problems and make a difference. If I can inspire my classmates and other students to help others and serve the community, then I'll really feel like I'm making a difference. It's not about the roles you play, it's all about the outcome and the final goal.
Next to speak was Jintao. Again, the following is a part of the information he shared:
Toxic masculinity, a term coined by professor Shepherd Bliss in the 1980s, was first used to dissociate negative traits from positive aspects of masculinity. As the Good Men Project defines it, “Toxic Masculinity is a narrow and repressive description of manhood, designating manhood as defined by violence, sex, status, and aggression.” Have you ever witnessed a man making sexist jokes to women, or a man being unwilling to show his emotions because he believes it demonstrates weakness and femininity? If so, you just witnessed behaviors of toxic masculinity. In an effort to dive deeper and begin to help others understand what toxic masculinity is and why it might be a problem, today
He then used the Rotary Four-Way Test to examine the idea. Her ended his speech with the following:
So where do we go from here? Professor John Pryor, in an article in The Atlantic says, quote “Toxic masculinity can be diminished if the social setting has no normative pressure to do it. While trying to prevent the fixed judgments towards a gender, we should also realize that people with a mix of positive masculine and feminine psychological traits are more flexible, competent, and mentally healthy than their masculine or feminine counterparts.” Unquote. Imagine the potential for building goodwill and better friendships in a world where we embrace positive masculine traits. I am going to work towards this goal, and I hope that the Rotary Club can help everyone achieve this end.
At the conclusion of the speeches, the judges who were members of the Hanover Rotary Club signed off to move to a new Zoom meeting to complete their judging of the contest.
We learned the next day that KUA's Jintao Yue won the regional prize in Rotary Speech Contest with his convincing analysis of toxic masculinity
Books given to the Children's Collection at the Kilton Library in Honor of Our Speech Contestants
- Equality Calls: The Story of Voting Rights in America by Deborah Diesen. Illustrated by Magdalena Mora.
Learn all about the history of voting rights in the United States—from our nation’s founding to the present day—in this powerful picture book from the New York Times bestselling author of The Pout-Pout Fish. A right isn’t right till it’s granted to all… The founders of the United States declared that consent of the governed was a key part of their plan for the new nation. But for many years, only white men of means were allowed to vote. This unflinching and inspiring history of voting rights looks back at the activists who answered equality’s call, working tirelessly to secure the right for all to vote, and it also looks forward to the future and the work that still needs to be done.
- I Voted: Making a Choice Makes a Difference by Mark Shulman. Illustrated by Serge Bloch.
I Voted explains the concept of choosing, individually, and as a group, from making a simple choice: "Which do you like better, apples or oranges?", to selecting a class pet, to even more complicated decisions, like electing community representatives. You may not always get want you want, but there are strategies to better your odds! Serge Bloch's effortless and charming illustrations paired with Mark Shulman's funny and timely text create a perfect resource for discussing current events with your children. Backmatter includes information about the United States electoral process.