It was the children's turn to educate and entertain as winners of Dryden's Royal Conservatory of Music competition and Rotary's Public Speaking Contest showed why they were 2010's best.

Organized by Rtns Rita Latoureau and Trevor Szymon and MC'd by Rtn Mardi Plomp club members and their guests alternated between listening to the 3 speech winners and the two pianists.

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Fifty-five students entered this year's Rotary Public Speaking competition. 

The first person to speak was third-place winner, Teyanna Dyck, a Grade 8 student at New Prospect School. 
In her topic "Stop Bullying in Schools" Dyck focused on on the relationship between bullying and power. She said, kids who didn't think they should squeel on bullies should "snap out of it" and "stand up" and "help stop it".

https://clubrunner.blob.core.windows.net/00000000986/Stories/58c6832f-df71-48a8-b475-6b3d972f0e83.jpgJunior Trophy music winner David Marshall of St. Joseph's School and son of Rtn Peter Marshall then played two piano numbers, "Intercity Stomp" and "October Blues". David won the Grade two class with 86 marks.

Second-Place Speech winner, Cassidy Heil, a Grade 7 student also from St. Joseph's then shared her speech "The Possible Death of the Human Race." The title come-on took us into a critique of the social media page FaceBook and its Pros and Cons. Heil at one point wanted to know "how long the noses" of its creators were as she claimed the site lied in terms of the quality of its security but in the end felt the good and bad were about split 50/50.

Those in attendance then heard Intermediate piano winner, Hailey Gilmore, a Grade four music student and Grade 8 pupil from Pinewood school play, "Nocture" and "Music Box Dancer".  Both piano students are pupils of Heather Spoozak who has now been teaching piano in Dryden for twenty years. 

The evenings last performer was the first place Rotary Public Speaking winner Abigail  Tourond of Mrs. Darling's Grade 8 class at Pinewood School. Tourond's speech titled "Children's TV Shows" was a humorous poke at what passes a "children's" entertainment. Programs such as Dora, Diago Go and Teletubies each received good jabs for the silliness of their underlying assumptions about kids. 

The trophies and awards and were then passed out, organizers thanked and Ian Nixon memorial award presented to Abigail Tourond. Ian Nixon began and ran the Public Speaking Competition in 2003 until 2008.