Press release

Inyo County Superintendent of Schools is pleased to announce that Haley Yarborough of Round Valley School won first place at the 64th Annual Inyo County Speech Contest sponsored by Coldwell Banker and held on March 10th at Jill Kinmont Boothe School.

Haley Yarborough of Round Valley, 1st place, 2016 Inyo County Speech Contest

The second place winner was Kylee Jorgensen also of Round Valley. Third place went to Bodie Steinwand from Big Pine School.

Each participating school held their own speech contest where one or two winning students in grades 6-8 were selected to compete at the county level.

In addition to Steinwand, Joey Huston also represented Big Pine School. Clarissa Castro and Erik Martinez represented Owens Valley School and Mahdi Ayman represented Home Street Middle School.

These seven students representing three schools in Inyo County were asked to address the question: “In your opinion, what questions should our presidential candidates address?”

Students presented well-reasoned arguments addressing a variety of important issues facing our country today–the two mentioned most being climate control and the cost of higher education.

Inyo County Suptintendent of Schools Terry McAteer, Haley Yarborough (RV – 1st place), Kylee Jorgensen (RV – 2nd place), Bodie Steinwand (Bog Pine – 3rd place) and sponsor Jake Rasmuson of Coldwell Banker

An undercurrent in many of the speeches was a concern over the lack of leadership, action, and problem-solving among many of our nation’s politicians today.

“We should commend these students for their efforts,” said Superintendent Terry McAteer. “Public speaking is among the top fears among Americans, yet it is an important skill. I’m proud to see our students hone their skills and speak out.”

All speeches were evaluated on content and delivery by a panel of three, community judges: retired teacher Sandy Burns; Program Coordinator at Toiyabe Serena Johnson; and retired teacher and ICSOS board member Mary Kemp. Inyo County Superintendent of Schools heartily thanks these judges for their time and expertise.

Mahdi Ayman (HSMS), Joey Huston (Big Pine), Erik Martinez (OV) and Clarissa Castro (OV)

ICSOS would also like to express gratitude to the school coaches for their time, effort and support for our students. The coaches were Melinda Darndenne-Ankringa of Big Pine School; Vivian Hanson of Owens Valley School; Joslyn Hernandez of Home Street Middle School; and Jennifer Morales from Round Valley School.