Highlights from the 2011 Contest
With 13 high school student participants, the Eleanor Stem Allen Speech Trek Contest, held February 7th at the Cornerstone Community Methodist Church in Rocklin, was better than ever. Students came from Roseville, Whitney, Rocklin, and Woodcreek High Schools. The 50 members who attended included AAUW members, teachers, students, parents and family of the 13 participants. Four very qualified judges-two from Toastmasters and two veteran speech and debate coaches from a local high school district-evaluated each speaker.
1st place Jesse Nelson, 11th grade at Woodcreek High School
2nd place Tayryn Edwards, 11th grade at Woodcreek High School
3rd place Jesar Shah, 12th grade at Roseville High School.
A DVD of Jesse's speech will be sent to the state competition committee for review. In early March, the names of the three state finalists will be announced. Hopefully, Jesse will be one of the three who go on to State Speech Trek Competition at the AAUW CA Convention in Irvine April 8-10.
2010-11 AAUW CA Speech Contest Theme: Breaking through Barriers-Internationally
The American Association of University Women (AAUW) recently defined Breaking through Barriers as the organization’s unifying focus. This new focus is designed to “illuminate our path into the future. It describes what we believe and what we do. And it suggests the confidence we have to break through those targeted barriers to achieve our goal for all women to have a fair chance.”
Internationally, AAUW seeks “strategic opportunities to increase awareness of issues facing …women and girls worldwide. Our goal is to harness the power of women in the United States to engage in targeted activities, nationally and at the state and grassroots levels that will fight against global poverty.”
Seventy percent of the 1.2 billion people in the world living in poverty are women. What is the most significant barrier to be overcome to lift these women out of poverty, internationally? What organization, foundation or program is having the greatest impact on this barrier? Tell us in a 5 minute speech.
Highlights from the 2010 Contest
Ela Banerjee, a Roseville High School Junior, has been awarded first place in the 4th annual AAUW Speech Trek contest sponsored by the Roseville-South Placer Branch of AAUW.
Our branch is proud to announce that Ela Banerjee is a state finalist and will compete at the AAUW State Convention on May 1st.
Update: Ela Banerjee place third winning $500. Congratulations Ela on an outstanding job.
Breaking Through Barriers-Theme Question
"If you could organize 100,000 women, millions of dollars in resources and thousands of volunteer hours to bring equality to women in one area, what would that area be? and Why?
Eleanor Stem Allen Speech Trek Awards:
$500 first place winner-Ela Banerjee, Roseville High School Junior
$350 second place-Alexus Howze, Woodcreek High School Senior
$250 third place-Alex Ayers, Woodcreek High School Senior
Also competing were Alexa Crawford, a Granite Bay High School senior; Paige Smith, a Whitney High School sophomore; and Chad Tucker, a Whitney High School senior.
These awards were funded by the special scholarship fund set up by Gray Allen in honor of his late wife Eleanor Allen.
In Honor of Eleanor Allen
In honor of his late wife, Eleanor Allen, Gray Allen has donated prize money to our branch. The prize monies for first, second, and third place will be named the Eleanor Stem Allen Speech Trek Scholarship. The state competition will also receive donated prize monies from Mr. Allen. The scholarship will be named the Eleanor Stem Allen Speech Trek Scholarship.
Eleanor Allen, dedicated AAUW member, was the Speech Trek Coordinator for our branch.
History
Speech Trek is a program involving a speech contest for high-school girls and boys on the subject of AAUW’s theme. The contest begins at the branch level and winners progress to the district level, from which three will be awarded prizes at the state convention.
Highlights from the 2009 Contest
The Theme-"Gender Equity in Education"
Christian Hatchett, a Woodcreek High School sophomore,has been awarded first place in the third annual AAUW Speech Trek contest sponsored by the Roseville-South Placer Branch of AAUW.
He received $200 for his first-place finish. Yes! A young man captured first place, a “first” for Speech Trek!
Placing second was Tayryn Edwards, a Woodcreek High School freshman.
Third place went to Mary-Kate Cavaghan a junior at Roseville High School.
Also competing were Diana Gonzalez, a junior at Woodcreek High School, 2009 Speech Trek Winners and Rose Christensen, a freshman at Roseville High School.
This year’s topic focused on gender equity in education. Contestants responded to the question, “What are the facts about gender equity…are girls succeeding at the expense of boys?”
Hatchett concluded, “Gender does not influence success any more than skin color, or religion, or political views do. We all influence our own success. Underachievement is not a gender problem; it is a problem of motivation.”
Judging this year’s contest on February 2 at the Granite Bay Library were Susan Go to, Roseville City School Board trustee; Joyce Wade, retired college professor; Pauline Roccucci, Roseville City Council; and
Anna Torres, State Winner of Speech Trek in 2007.
Highlights from 2008
Cisalee Burgess, our local and district Speech Trek winner, came in second in the 2008 state competition. Our delegates to AAUW’s State Convention in April heard her deliver the winning speech again, and they said she did an excellent job! We are proud of her and pleased that we have had the first and second place state winners in the first two years of the contest.
Contact Gail Berberian