Photo by Chris McCain

Article Contributed by Brooke McCain, Brownsville Press

On Wednesday, March 15, five fourth-grade students and two fifth graders at East Side Intermediate School stepped up to the podium in the 4-H public speaking contest. These seven students had already overcome the first hurdle of winning his or her respective classroom contest in order to complete for the school’s top seeds.

Judged by Haywood County Extension’s Lindsay Griffin, who is also responsible for the fourth- and fifth-grade 4-H program, Brownsville Press’s Brooke McCain and Brownsville Radio’s Drew Magruder, each fourth grader gave a 1- to 2-minute speech and each fifth grader a 2- to 3-minute speech.

For the fourth-grade competitors, Landon Chapman secured first place with his witty and humorous speech detailing how he had to let his teacher know that instead of the dog eating his homework it was accidentally burned. Second place was awarded to Aniya Estes and third to Luke Sullivan. Markavion Runions and Kaandria Toliver received participation awards.

The fifth-grade opponents’ wins came down to mere tenths of points. Ultimately, Connor Springfield was awarded first with his dedicatory speech about how his father is his favorite person and role model. Shivam Patel won second.

Chapman and Springfield now have the opportunity to represent Haywood County at the regional contest.