The Blue Valley Optimist Club will be hosting the Annual Optimist international Oratorical Contest for local youth under the age of 18 as of October 1, 2015.  There will be separate contests for boy and girl participants.  This year’s contest is scheduled for Tuesday, March 8, 2016, 4:00 PM at the Center for Advanced Professional Studies (CAPS), 7501 W. 149^th Terrace, Overland Park, KS 66223.

The official topic of this year’s contest is “How My Best Brings Out the Best in Others.” Contestants must speak on the subject between 4 to 5 minutes.  Scoring is based on personal qualities, material organization, delivery, presentation and overall effectiveness.  Enclosed is a copy of the rules and the entry form.

First, second, and third place winners will be awarded medallions.  In addition, the first place boy and girl winners will be eligible for further completion in the Zone and Kansas District competitions with the top prize to the boy and girl winners being a $2,500 college scholarship.  Optimist International has made some exciting new changes to this year’s contest.  One of our District winners will be able to compete in Optimist International’s Regional/World Contest which will be held in St. Louis, MO with the Regional Contests (8) held on the first day and the World Contest finals held on the second day.  In addition to the $2500 scholarship the Kansas District winner receives, a Regional winner will receive a $5000 scholarship and the scholarships for the world Champions will be in the amounts of $15,000, $10,000, and $5000 for first, second, and third place finishers.  This will be a great challenge to our Blue Valley high school students and there is a potential for a student to win $22,500 or more in scholarships.  Over the last ten years that the Blue Valley Optimist club has sponsored this contest, we have had three Kansas District winners from Blue Valley.

There are several other key contest dates that participants need to be aware of and they are as follows.

·         Zone contest date is Saturday, April 2, 2016 in Olathe, KS

·         Kansas District contest date is Saturday, April 16, 2016 in Manhattan, KS

·         The Regional/World contest is Friday and Saturday, June 23 & 24, 2016 in St. Louis, MO

Optimist International is one of the worlds’ largest service club organizations with 85,000 adult and youth members in the 2500 clubs in the US, Canada and though out the world.  The Optimist Oratorical Contest is one of the organization’s most popular programs, with more than 2000 clubs participating annually.  Carrying the motto “Bringing Out the Best in Kids” optimists conduct positive service projects that reach more than six million young people each year.  To learn more about Optimist International, please visit the organization’s website at www.optimist.org.

Please mail completed entry forms by February 24, 2016 to Larry Drbal, 1904 E. 153^rd Terrace, Olathe, KS, 66062.  If you have any questions concerning the contest, feel free to contact Dr. Drbal at (913) 256-8303 or larrydrbal@sbcglobal.net.