Painting a vivid picture with words difficult to hear, Live Oak
High School senior Deanna Martin spoke with passion and
confidence.
Painting a vivid picture with words difficult to hear, Live Oak High School senior Deanna Martin spoke with passion and confidence.
“Imagine, if you will, a young girl. She is 5 years old, yet her emaciated body makes her look more like she is 2. Her lips are cracked and parched, her body tiny and withered,” Martin said. “Coming to the rescue yet again, Rotary has been raising funds for a six-month program that will feed 40,000 people like this little girl, saving them from starvation.”
Martin, in her first year of speech debate, captured first place Tuesday in Rotary’s area speech contest at Gilroy Elks Lodge, competing against Derek Jara, a sophomore at San Benito High School, and Tasha LoPorto, a senior at Gilroy High School.
Martin will advance to a regional speech contest April 20 at the Los Gatos Morning Rotary Club.
Martin, who hopes to enroll at CalPoly San Luis Obispo or San Jose State this fall, also is a member of the Emerald Regime Marching Band.
Martin’s speech spotlighted PolioPlus, a Rotary International program launched in 1985 that has raised $123 million to eradicate polio, with a goal of raising a total of $180 million to end the disease by the end of this year.
The theme for this year’s contest is Century Builders Building Bridges, in commemoration of Rotary’s centennial anniversary celebrated this year. The students wrote their own speeches, which were required to incorporate Rotary’s four-way test: whether actions and words are true, fair, build goodwill and are beneficial to all concerned.
