Students from Diamond Bar High School and Walnut High School competed against one another in a district oratory contest that qualified one participant for the Region XV Oratory Contest hosted by the Association of California School Administrators. The selected student will receive monetary scholarships.

DBHS students junior Joy Chow and senior Ayo Osilaja competed in the contest. Osilaja was selected as the winner and was awarded $100. He now moves on to the regional contest that will be held on Mar. 7 in the Glendale Unified School District Board Room to compete for a $500 prize and a chance to present his speech at the ACSA Spring Conference and Awards Banquet.

“I feel humbled. I really didn’t feel like I would win because I had such harsh competition, but it’s really a pleasure to,” Osilaja stated.

The Walnut Valley United School District was allowed to send one student to the Region XV Contest and hosted an oratory competition on Feb. 15 at 7 p.m. in the Walnut Theater to determine the finalist. Participants were judged by a panel of four judges: Quail Summit Principal Alysia Hobbs, WHS English teacher Jeff Silva, DBHS Instructional Dean Julian Rodriguez, and WHS Instructional Dean Reuben Jones. Students were judged on a scale of 1-8 on several aspects including speaking quality and speech structure. The scores were then totaled and the highest scoring individual was chosen as the finalist.

“Connecting with the audience is the most important part of public speaking. The audience might not necessarily remember the exact things you said, but they will definitely remember how they felt at the end of your speech,” Jones commented.