The Platteville Optimist Club Platteville Area Optimist Club and held a joint Oratorical Contest at St. Augustine's Church on Thursday March 31, 2011 at 6:00 p.m.

The contestants in the front row, left to right are Ben Connolly, Sumaia Masoom and Saafia Masoom. In the back are Christine Storlie, co-coordinator, Gary Engelke, Lt. Governor for the SWIS District Optimists and Tracy Ball, co-coordinator.

All three contestants gave speeches of 4 - 5 minutes in length. The topic was "If I were leader of the free world, the first issue I would address would be...". Sumaia and Saafia chose education and gave different rationale to support their view of education being necessary to a better world. Ben talked about the problem of the National Debt.

Thank you to all three of you for your speeches. Your effort really showed.

We want to give a big "Thank You" to our Judges: Charlie Clark, Amanda Draheim & Kayla Smith. Charlie is an Optimist member and retired Guidance Counselor. Amanda is a member of the UW-Platteville Forensics Club. Kayla is majoring in Communication Technology. Thanks to Tracy Ball of the Platteville Optimist Club and to Christine Storlie of the Platteville Area Optimist Club for coordinating the event.

All three contestants will advance to the District competition on May 7, 2011 at the Wilderness Resort in Wisconsin Dells. Good luck to all!