The District 5810 Level 4-way speech contest was held April 28 at South Grand Prairie HS.  A total of 26 students were entered and among them our Club competition winner Kevin King.  A nice surprise was, that our Club runner up Marynn McNeil did compete again at the Farmers Branch Club and as the winner, she also participated at the District level. After a briefing by Dr. Susan Gainer, the competition was hard “fought” by all students. Those attending were gland they did not have to sit in the judges chairs.  All students were extremely capable and all speeches would deserve to be published.  Our Governor made an appearance and was available for a few photo opportunities.

But in the end, it was Kevin King, our Club Winner who took First Place, a nice scholarship check, and a Rotary plaque. Congratulations to Kevin and all participants from the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Rotary Club.  We are extremely proud of you.

The winners were: First Place - Kevin King; Second Place - Zach Stone; Third Place - Vincent Lee; Fourth Place - Marynn McNeil; Fith Place - Paul Russel; Sixth Place - Luke Calvert

Front Row: Marlee Vadergrift, Merryn McNeil, Michael Schrag, Kevin King       
Back Row:  Dr. Bobby Burns and Hans Mecker

 Students from all four high schools competed in the Four Way Test Speech Competition at our regular meeting on February 16th. This is one of our favorite meetings every year. The students this year were Kevin King from Creekview High School, Marlee Vandergrift from Ranchview High School, Michael Schrag from Newman Smith, and Merryn McNeil from Turner High School.

Marlee talked about Reality Television and how so much of what we are seeing on TV does not come close to measuring up to the four way test. Kevin talked about how our four fathers built this country focusing on "We" and not "Me". If more people would focus on the four way test, our country would begin to gravitate back to what has made this country what it is today. Michael, talked about the negative 2012 campaigning and how it does not even come close to measuring up to the four way test. Finally, Merryn talked about how our Virtual World is impacting our Real World. Twitter is taking the place of fact-to-face conversation and reducing the personal interaction, especially among young people.

All of these speeches were outstanding making the judge’s decision very difficult. Marlee was our 4th place winner with Michael claiming 3rd place. Merryn came in 2nd place. Our 1st place winner was Kevin King from Creekview High School.

It is refreshing to know that young people like Marlee, Michael, Merryn, and Kevin will be our future leaders and the Four Way Test will be part of their decision making as they pursue their respective careers.

While our 2012 goal was set at $600, a total of $1,000 after expenses was raised which was matched by Rotarian Gary Embrey for a total of $2,000!   Adding this to the $400 from the 2011 Valentine’s fundraiser we now have a total of $2,400.00.  We believe $1,200 for each home will have positive impacts on their budgets this year in providing necessary supplies for these precious children.

We also decided it would be fun to deliver some extras so we have began a campaign to collect crayons, markers, pens, pencils, coloring books and DVDs for the 2 homes. To learn more about the 2 homes, click on "More" below.

Regina Edwards and her family will travel this spring to deliver a check to the Montego Bay Rotary Club and to visit the 2 homes.  (Watch for pictures to be posted on this website after they return.) Past President Bhagwan Chuganey and our long-time Rotary friends in the Montego Bay Club will deposit the proceeds in an account that can be used by the 2 homes as needs arise. They will let us know how the funds are used.

Thank you so much for your support of this International Service Project. We shattered our goal and are so proud to be able to reach out to these 2 deserving homes and share our love and support this year.

Past President Regina Edwards and International Service Director Steven Patrick

Rotary Club of Carrollton-Farmers Branch