SERVICE CLUBS: Speech contestants in limelight
The competition for top high school speaker really heated up at the Valley Regional Lions Clubs Annual Speech Contest Monday night in the conference room at Verdugo Hills Hospital.
The competition featured the winners from earlier Lions Clubs Valley speech contests.
Sam Whitefield from La Cañada High School, who had won the local area contest, competed against Dikran Nalbandian, a junior at Providence High School, and Michael Harris, a senior at North Hollywood High School.
The topic they spoke on was “Water — Will California Be Left High and Dry?”
What a great question for high-school students. They had each spoken on that topic in earlier contests, which at this high contest level made for really great speeches from the students.
Each identified the coming water shortages and had some very creative solutions both serious and fun.
Desalinization plants hidden next to the ocean, redirecting water away from forests and Yosemite and stop watering lawns were some of the suggestions.
Look out Sacramento — here are three of our future leaders. Picking the winner was very hard for the judges.
Michael was chosen as the winner, and he will now go on to another contest to judge the best in Southern California. Michael received a check for winning the contest.
Lions International has been having similar high school speech contests across the country for 72 years and college scholarships are given by the Lions Clubs at the state and national contests.
Crescenta-Cañada Lions Club meets on the second and fourth Thursday evening.
For more information, call Art Rinaman at (818) 248-0478.
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SCHOLARSHIPS AVAILABLE FROM ROTARY CLUB
More than 800 Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarships will be offered around the world by Rotary International this year.
The Crescenta Valley Rotary Club has taken the lead in recruiting potential scholarship winners for students from the Glendale and surrounding areas.
The scholarships will provide educational opportunities in a foreign country chosen by the student.
The scholarships represent Rotary’s faith that the student’s interaction with the people and the culture of the country they choose will encourage the students to dedicate their personal and professional lives to improving the quality of life for the people in their home communities and countries.
Since 1947, nearly 38,000 men and women from 100 nations have studied abroad under the Rotary Ambassadorial Scholarship program.
Today, the program is the world’s largest privately funded international scholarship program. Rotary scholarship grants worldwide have totaled approximately $500 million since 1947.
The scholarships to be granted will be for the academic year 2010-11 and can be used for almost any field of study.
The student must have completed two years of college by the time the scholarship begins. The scholarships for one year will be for a maximum of $23,000, or a multiyear scholarship at $11,000 a year.
Students cannot be a Rotarian or a direct descendant of a Rotarian.
The country or area chosen by the student must be in an area where a Rotary club exists. Rotary Club President Katie Friedman who is coordinating the applications said that Rotary clubs exist worldwide and that students should be able to identify foreign places to study without many country restrictions. Students who apply for study in a non-English speaking country should however be prepared to pass a language test for that country.
Crescenta Valley Rotary Club meets at 6:30 p.m. every Tuesday at the La Cabanita Restaurant, 3447 N. Verdugo Road, Glendale. For more information, call Joe Kroening at (818) 249-2016
?BRUCE CAMPBELL can be reached at (626) 403-1010, cell phone (626) 664-2223, or e-mail bruce4results@ verizon.net.