We had two talented Ponderosa High students competing in the 2021 version of the Rotary Club of Cameron Park speech contest.  The theme for the 2021 Speech Contest is: "Turning challenges into opportunities as we create transformative change."  Speeches were judged on content, delivery and language (grammar, pronunciation, appropriateness).  

We had a young man, a freshman named Sasha, and a young woman, a junior named Reina, competing remotely (as we all were) using Zoom. As you might expect, the pandemic provided the challenges that both spoke about, but they used very different subject matter and experiences to talk about how they created the changes to allow them to thrive despite these challenges.  It was educational and inspiring for the Rotarians to hear these fine young Ponderosa High School students speak.  Reina was voted the winner, taking home the $250 1st Place prize and went on to compete in the Area Speech Contest.  There were no losers as the freshman Sasha, has many future opportunities to speak and will receive $125 for 2nd Place. Each of them received hearty Zoom-visual applause.  Thanks to Ben Young, Mike Dugan and others for arranging this event!