CLARION, Pa. — On Sunday, March 4 the Clarion County 4-H Teen Council hosted the first regional Public Speaking Contest at Clarion University.

There were participants from seven counties in attendance including Clarion, Lawrence, Jefferson, Venango, Potter, Butler, and Erie. The youth had the opportunity to participate in two different categories of speeches.

The first category was Public Speaking; the members had to give an individual speech between 4.5 to 7.5 minutes without any visual aids in front of a panel of judges. The second category was Presentation Talks where members had to give a speech between 10 to 15 minutes using a display or PowerPoint presentation.

The judging panel consisted of State Representative Donna Oberlander, Venango County Commissioner Albert ‘Chip’ Abramovic, Jamie LaFever, Catina Hunter, and students from Clarion University. Overall, there were 15 participants for the day and monetary awards were presented to the top three speakers in each division.

Congratulations to the 4-H youth from Clarion County who participated: Isaac Allio, Leah Allio, Jacob Allio, Sam Anderson, and Tim Richard. Sam Anderson was a first placeholder in his category giving an inspirational speech on “Exploring your Interests to Build a Better Future.” Tim Richard placed second in his division with his educational speech on his “4-H Goat Project.”

4-H is a youth program that promotes positive youth development in teaching kids about leadership, teamwork, and citizenship.