Standing from left to right: ECHS teacher Julia Brown, orator J. Tyler Lester, judge Janie Price, orator Nicholas Brittingham, judge John Smith, orator John Newton, judge Lt. Col. Christopher Green, contest chair Denard Harris. Seated from left to right are Optimist contest co-chair Kay Harris, orator Kaitlyn Lawrence, orator Sabrina Carraway, orator Jordan Robinson, and timekeeper Amy Holland.
“How My Optimism Will Help Me Press on to Greater Achievements of the Future” is this year’s Optimist International oratorical contest theme that took center stage for six students of Carteret County high school students at the Morehead City Train Depot on March 31st.
Sponsored by the Carteret Optimist Club, under the direction of Denard and Kay Harris, the event was county level of competition in a speech contest that dates back more than 80 years. At the first level, East Carteret teacher Julia Brown prepared students and held school-wide eliminations with the top speakers selected by Bob Hussan, Craven Community Shakespeare Contest Chair; former Optimist champion Max Masterson, and peers from each class. Attorney B. J. Peter assembled the county wide panel of judges: Toastmaster and former public speaking professor John Smith, Camp Lejeune deputy circuit military judge Lieutenant Colonel Christopher M. Greer (himself a former high school debater and Model UN delegate), and Janie Price, retired writer for U. S. News and World Reports who judged this county wide level.
“The Optimist Oratorical Contest gives youngsters the chance to speak to the world,” said Denard Harris, speech contest coordinator for the Carteret County chapter.
The orators all had to follow strict guidelines which included not identifying themselves with Optimist Amy Holland serving as the official timekeeper.
The Optimist speech competition is limited to students under the age of 19 years old, who are educated in the United States, Canada, or the Caribbean.
First conducted in 1928, the contest is held at nearly 2,000 local Optimist clubs each year. The winners at the county level receive medallions and zone winners receive a plaque. With the ultimate winner walking away with $27,400.
During the Carteret competition, the young speakers, who all happened to be students from East Carteret High School, were divided into two competitive categories – one for boys, and the other for girls. The East Carteret high school speakers were all under the age of nineteen. Gold medalists were senior John Newton and sophomore Kaitlyn Lawrence. Silver medalists were senior Sabrina Carraway and sophomore Nicholas Brittingham. Bronze medalists were freshmen Jordan Robinson and J. Tyler Lester.
John Newton and Kaitlyn Lawrence will compete in the zone competition in Greenville on Monday, April 20th. Senior John Newton will complete “unfinished business” that he began when he first qualified at this level as a ninth grader in 2011-2012
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