San Diego Rotary Club 33 hosted Hoover High School Cardinals Interact Club who participated in the Club's 4-Way Test Speech Contest on February 23. A record 23 students presented their speeches to a packed room of Rotarians, family and Cardinal's Interact staff. The First Place prize of $500 went to Alyssa Chavez who spoke on organ donation. The Second Place prize of $400 went to Leslie Leyva who compared the benefits of education to experience. Emily Sabory, last year's winner and Valedictorian for the Hoover Class of 2019, educated the Club about the alarming rate of sexual assault on college campuses, winning the Third Place prize of $300. The Fourth Place prize went to Cuong Nguyen who presented on balancing the mindset of negativity.
These courageous high school students worked hard to write and develop their own speeches and to fine-tune their delivery skills with the help of 30+ Club 33 Rotarians, who wanted to give back to these disadvantaged students, served as mentors . These students don't have speech and debate coaches, classes or debate teams at Hoover. Mentors worked with these students since October of last year. There were few dry eyes in the house as Rotarians watched these students transform from scared and unknowing to confident and skilled.
