According to Manoj Vasudevan, the 2017 Toastmasters World Champion of Public Speaking, says a person who is able to skillfully express himself or herself as an orator, especially early in life, is more likely to foster better friendships and relationships and build a larger network of collaborators. The Fulton County 4-H program works closely with the schools to prepare youth for the 4-H Public Speaking contest and to help them become an effective public speaker.

This year due to the Covid-19 pandemic, classroom 4-H presentations were not held this year due to schools closing. Many teachers however, made turning in the student’s written speech or demonstration a part of the school’s NTI packet. There were eighty students whom turned in their written speech or demonstration for a grade or extra credit work. Students still did the research, learned how to write parts of a speech, organized their thoughts and completed a paper.

4-H Communications Day went to a virtual format, where participants filmed their speech and submitted it via online to be judged. Fulton County had eight students to submit a speech for judging in visual arts, team, foods, performing arts and three speech contestants. Of those, five moved on to the Purchase Area 4-H Virtual Communications Day contest. After the completion of the area contest, none of the contestants moved on to the State level competition. Despite the current environment our students were faced with, to take the initiative and complete an extra bonus project showed their drive to be great.

Students were asked what motivated them to complete and participate in 4-H Communications Day, 100% said their parents made them do it but 75% felt as though public speaking is a great asset to possess. 100% of them said they will compete next year and 100% said their future careers involves some form of communication.