Amador Valley High Student Wins Area 4 Speech Contest

Janel Lee, a freshman at Amador Valley High School, Pleasanton, has won the Area 4 Youth Speech Contest.

Ms. Lee’s five-minute speech was judged the best of three five-minute presentations at Pleasanton North Rotary’s weekly meeting at the Hilton Hotel at the Club, Pleasanton.

The speeches addressed the theme of “Reach within to embrace humanity,” and included at least one mandatory reference to the principles of the Rotary Four-Way Test that guides the organization’s commitment to community service and fellowship.

It was a repeat performance for Janel. She won the chapter-level competition, sponsored by PNR, during its Jan. 6 lunch meeting. 

In her speech, Janel considered how the personal pleasure playing the violin spread across audience creating a special experience for elderly residents who heard her perform at local specialty nursing facility. She was awarded a $200 and qualified for finals of the Rotary District 5170’s Richard D. King Annual Youth Speech contest at HP Pavilion, San Jose, March 23.  

Kevin Greenlee, PNR’s youth services coordinator, chaired the local competition. Janel Brehe Johnson, a speech instructor at Las Positas College, Bryan Gillette, a Human Resources vice-president at TopCon, a global positioning device company in Livermore, Amy Moellering, a freelance write, and Jim Ott, chief financial officer of iGATE, Livermore, judged the contest.