Although COVID-19 may have caused the cancellation of many youth in-person programs, Allen County 4-H was able to provide two public speaking opportunities to our Allen County youth through in-school speeches with the eighth grade and our Virtual 4-H Communications Contest.

Each year students in the eight grade at James E. Bazzell Middle School have participated in a Speech Contest held in partnership with the James E. Bazzell Middle School, the Allen County Cooperative Extension Services and the Allen County 4-H Program.   This February, over 250 eighth graders engaged in the 4-H Communications project which required them to identify and research current issues, plan and write a speech, revise and later present their speech in front of their classmates.   During this experiential learning opportunity, youth are directly engaged in civic engagement matters through their researched topics as well as applied writing and public speaking skills.   As a result of this contest, forty-two youth were recognized including ten Class Champions for their accomplishments in their in-class speech contests.   

The Allen County 4-H Program hosted a Virtual Communications Contest in April as a creative alternative for the annual communications contest that typically takes place at the Allen County Extension Office.  Unique to this year, youth were asked to write and prepare their speeches and demonstrations and then record a final copy of their presentation to upload for our county contest.  Allen County had seven recorded speech and demonstration entries to win at county and advance to the Mammoth Cave 4-H Area level.  

At the Area 4-H Contest level, two Allen County 4-Her’s – Kierra Owens and Liberty Falica - won their divisions and will advance to the State Communications Contest in July.  Junior Natural Resources Area Champion, Liberty Falica, said “I had fun learning how to make posters using Microsoft Publisher and I think it made my posters look better than when I use to draw and color them.  The thing I liked best was researching my topics and learning new things.  I learned you can not take a judges comment as an insult. You just need to take it as good advice to help you do better next time.”   - Liberty Falica

One top Champion was selected from each of the ten Eighth Grade English Classes for the 2020 JEBMS 4-H Speech Contest.    Winners received a rosette and recognition in the school yearbook for their accomplishments.