Winners of Rotary’s Four-Way Speech Contest, and the music and visual arts competitions, were honored at a gala event at the Beck Center on April 17.
Sponsored by the Rotary Club of Lakewood and Rocky River, the contest annually showcases the incredible talents of students attending one of five high schools – Lakewood, Lutheran West, Magnificat, Rocky River, and St. Edward.
Speech contest first place winner was Edie Barcelona, who represented the club at the Rotary district 6630 competition on April 22. Her speech was entitled, “Dance: The Art of Discrimination.”
Also honored were Ari Frischauf, second place, who used men’s figure skating to present a speech on gender and biology; Zoe Pace, third place, who spoke about The Pink Tax; and Hutch Reed, honorable mention, whose speech highlighted the state of drug laws within the United States. All students are from Lakewood High School. Their teacher is Ms. Amy Garritano.
Beck Center for the Arts in Lakewood has been a valued partner of Rotary for this event, serving as the liaison to educators at the high schools and providing the venue and judges for various phases of the competitions.
This is the 78th year for the club’s speech competition, and the twenty-sixth year that the Beck Center has collaborated with the Rotary club for these student competitions.
Music contest first place winner was last year’s second place winner from Lakewood High School, Sophie Craciun, performing “Oboe Sonata, Mvt 3” by Saint Saens. Second place was Jill King, cello, Lakewood High School, performing, “Cello Concerto in A Minor” by Saint Saens. Third place was last year’s honorable mention winner, Morgan Way, piano, Rocky River High School, with “Prelude in G Minor” by Rachmaninoff; Honorable mention was awarded to Max Lucic, vocalist from Rocky River High School, who performed “Nina” by Giovanni Pergolesi.Visual arts winners were Shea Alexander, “In the Weeds,” watercolor and ink, Rocky River, first place; Zach Payne, “Turquoise Trees,” clay, St. Edward High School, second place; and Amanda Haas, “50 Shades of Bugs,” metals, jewelry, Magnificat High School, third place.
Honorable mentions went to Yasmin Mayich, “Sinking Null,” digital procreate, Rocky River High School; Alexis Miles, “Dragon Eye,” prismacolor, Lutheran West High School; and Clare Morrissey, “My Messy Bedroom,” pen and ink, Lakewood High School.
Over 140 art pieces of various styles and media were submitted. A jury of visual arts educators selected outstanding works that met the contest requirements. From this gallery, the judges chose the award winners. The exhibition was viewable in the Jean Bulicek Galleria.
In recognition of their achievements, all winners received a cash prize from Rotary, made possible by the Lakewood-Rocky River Rotary Foundation.