– Press release

Inyo County Superintendent of Schools is pleased to announce that Naiya Warren of Owens Valley School won first place at the 63rd Annual Inyo County Speech Contest held on March 12th at Jill Kinmont Booth School and sponsored by Coldwell Banker.

1st-place finisher Naiya Warren holding the winners plaque which has the names of the speech contest winners back to 1960. Owens Valley School will display the plaque until the 2016 speech contest.

The second place winner was Steven Mather also of Owens Valley. Third place went to Arianna Pope from Home Street Middle School.
Each participating school held their own Speech Contest where one or two winning students were selected to compete in the Inyo County Speech Contest, open to students in grades 6-8. In addition to Mather and Warren, 8th grader Shawnau Johnson also represented Owens Valley. Estreya Federman, Taylor McCormick, and Haley Yarborough represented Round Valley.

At the county speech contest, students were evaluated on speech content and delivery by a panel of three judges. These seven students representing three schools in Inyo County presented thoughtprovoking and well-prepared speeches. “Should the National Park Service be recruiting more visitorship?” was the topic for the evening.

Finalists (left to right): 3rd Place Arianna Pope (HSMS), 2nd Place Steven Mather (Owens Valley), and 1st place Naiya Warren (Owens Valley) with sponsor Jake Rasmuson of Coldwell Banker

If students took the position in favor of increased visitorship, they were required to indicate what would increase visits from his or her age group and families. In preparation for the contest, students recalled personal experiences with National Parks and conducted
research on various aspects of the National Parks including visitor statistics.

Participating students took varying stances on the issue – some believing that a cap should be placed on certain overly accessed parks while others felt that in order to preserve such treasures as Denali, Yellowstone and Yosemite the next generation needs to become familiar with the parks.

Deputy Superintendent and speech contest judge Pamela Jones shared her perspective on the evening: “I found what the students were able to discover about our National Parks enlightening.” Jones and the judges were impressed with the students’ obvious preparation, composure and content of their speeches.

“The quality of the speeches this year was exceptional.”
Inyo County Superintendent of Schools would like to offer special thanks to the judges for their time and expertise: Lo-Inyo middle school teacher Bob Heist; Deputy Superintendent Pamela Jones; and retired teacher and ICSOS board member Mary Kemp. ICSOS would also like to express their gratitude to the school coaches for all the time, effort and support they provide to our students: Meghan
Fuchs, Vivian Hanson, and Jennifer Morales.

For more information, please contact Ilissa Twomey at 873-3262×429.