4th, 5th Graders Showcase Speech Skills at School Contest

Editor’s Note: This story was submitted by Los Alamitos Elementary School Principal Sunghie Okino.

Twenty students at Los Alamitos Elementary School sought to persuade or inform their peers and judges during a speech contest Jan. 25.

Each 4th and 5th grade student presented on one topic, and the issues ranged from lessons you can learn from Tae kwon do to a kid's perspective on why not to have a Facebook account.

A number of community members served as judges: Mayor Warren Kusumoto, Police Chief Todd Mattern, School Board Member Meg Cutuli, School Board Member Karen Russell, and Los Alamitos District Director of Special Projects Norma DelRio.

According to Principal Sunghie Okino, many of the judges said "it was extremely difficult to narrow the field down to the top three winners due to the high quality of the speeches."

After much deliberation, three winners were selected:

• First Place – Lucinda Marvel, who spoke about the need for people to use less plastic bottles because of the items negative impact on the ocean.
• Second Place – Blake Ravelo, who spoke about the significance of mucus in spite of most people’s initial reaction to it.
• Third Place – Fernanda Flores, who spoke about the importance of studying hard and getting good grades.

Other finalists included Lianne Alson, Mateo Elizararras,Giselle Flint, Sarah Gamarnik, Joseph Garcia, Vanessa Godinez, Analiese Gonzalez, Felix Gonzalez, DanielJacot, Elijio Mondragon, Christina Morris, Enrique Navarro, Sam Phelps, Alyssa Redrup, Niky Stefanescu, Jin Swun and Saige White.

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