Art, Music & Speech Contest
One of the premiere events that link Rotarians with our high school students is the Art/Music/Speech contest. This annual event is an outstanding way to not only recognize and celebrate talent among high school students, but also to engage Rotarians in serving our youth.
Diane Davis from the Rotary club of Downey will be chairing the Art contest, Jim Boltinghouse from the Rio Hondo/Vernon club will oversee Speech contestants, and the Music contest will be handled by Benedikt Brydern with the Hollywood club.
The process starts at the club level, generally with the Vocational Service or Youth director getting in contact with the local high school principals, and outlining the process. The clubs prepare applications for the three different fields, and interested students perform or display their art to a group of club-level Rotarians. For this year, we are suggesting clubs use January 31, 2011 as their application deadlines.
Depending on the number and quality of entrants, the judges may be charged with selecting the club winner, or the top performers can be invited to compete at a Rotary meeting. Either way, the entire club should have an opportunity to see the winning students. Monetary prizes for the winners are common at the club level. Again, we’d like to suggest that clubs should choose their winners by the end of March, and have notified the chairperson for the specific contest.
At that point, club-selected winners are then eligible to compete at the district level. That event is slated for April 9, 2011 for the Speech and Art contests. The Music contest is scheduled later, on May 8, 2011. Winners are expected to available for the District Conference later in May.
The skill levels of the students, especially those competing at the District level, are very impressive. I would urge all clubs to latch onto this event, either to play a direct role in judging the students performances, or to merely reaffirm the quality of the candidates. Based on my experience at last year’s competition, you’ll have a wonderful time.