Our  public school system sees the importance of teaching communication skills.  All of our fourth and fifith grade students are required to prepare and present a speech or demonstration.  This is  a total of 295 students. After the classroom presentation, those  students who scored eighty or above are invited to present at the county competition held at the Extension office.  Sixty  two youth participated in the county competition with thirteen moving on to the district 3 contest.  Although, only two of Carroll County youth moved on to the state competition, just think of how much these children gained in the area of communications. I attended a graduation party for a young man that had been in 4-H and year after year earned a score to continue to the state competition.  He graduated from college with his master's degree and now has been accepted to medical school in Tennesee.  As he talked with the people at his party, he gave so much credit to his success because he participated in the 4-H communications program.  He served on State teen council and ran for the office of Vice President.  He did not win that election but was honored to be slated to run.  A teen ager approached me last week and had gone for an interview at a local bank and said if it had not been for 4-H communications, she would not have had the skills to have such a great interview and was given the job.  Success story after success story is revealed through the 4-H communications program.  If I had to chose the area that makes the biggest difference in a person's life, I would honestly say that the communications program would  be number one.