The program for this meeting was the Southern Regional Semi-finals of the 43rd Richard D. King speech contest.
Club members again volunteered as officials at this contest. Mike Sanchez was the Speech Contest Chairman for the event and Rich Marcus was the emcee for the event. Harvey Blodget and Sam Slater were Teller's for this contest. William Sutton was the Official Timer.
The Official Judges for the event were Kevin Mederios, Principal at Hollister High School, Lori Woodle, Toastmasters of San Benito County for 38 years, and Carmel de Bertaut, with a Competent Communicator from Toastmasters of Salinas.
There were three female speakers and one male speaker for the event. Each Student selected a letter between A through D. This determined the order they would speak in. There was absolutely no hint of applause between speakers. The best control that was ever experienced by the District 5170 Speech Chairmen.
While the Tellers collected the judges score cards and began the task of arriving at a winner, the students stood and revealed to the crowd their names, where they went to school, what year in school that they are, and where they will be going to school next year if the were Seniors this year.
Speaker A: The first speaker, Naiel Chaudry, is a senior at Mountain View High School in Mountain View. Naiel won an episode of the Kids Baking Championship on the Food Network in 2022. Naiel and his sister currently run their own baking business. He would like to attend Stanford University, Wharton College, or Columbia University.
Speaker B: The second speaker, Aasma Dhawan, is from Christopher High School in Gilroy. Her speech was titled, "Doggy Disneyland. She is a Senior and plans on attending the University of California at Berkeley.
Speaker C: The third speaker, Sravya Varanasi, is Junior at Homestead High School. Her speech was entitled, "Scouting for Life." She plans to receive a commission at West Point Military Academy.
Speaker D: The fourth and final speaker for the day was Kira McGlashan. Kira is a Senior at Santa Cruz High School. Her speech was entitled , "The Stone Speech." She plans on attending Boston University or Wake Forest.
The Tellers reported that this contest was extremely close, but they had reached a conclusion. In this contest the top two become finalists at the District Learning Assembly to be held at West Valley College in Saratoga on 26 April 2025.
The two Finalists were in no particular order,
Naiel Chaudry and Kira MCGlashan.
The two Semi-finalists were, in no particular order,
Aasma Dhawan and Sravya Varanasi.
The two Finalists were given a check for $700 each and the two Semi-finalists were given a check for $300.
.png)
.png)
