Palmetto students take top honors in Farm City Week speech competition

Palmetto students took top honors this week in the annual Farm City Week Manatee River Soil and Water Conservation District speech contest.

Elanie Mason, a Palmetto High School student, won the competition and qualified to compete in an area contest to be held in the spring. Mason was awarded $150 by the district for her first-place finish.

Placing second and awarded $100 was Mia Kielmann, also a Palmetto High School student.

Ngan Le, a Southeast High School student, placed third and received $75.

As a participating teacher, Palmetto High School FFA teacher Julie Tillett won the drawing for a $50 gift certificate to purchase educational supplies.

Manatee County students in grades six through 12 were eligible to compete in contest. The competition is designed to develop leadership through participation in public speaking activities and to stimulate interest in conserving natural resources. The topic this year was “Watersheds: Our Water, Our Home.” Students submitted written transcripts of their speech and then shared information with the audience in 5-7 minute speeches.

Judges were Angelita Ortiz, 4-H Program Specialist with UF/IFAS Extension Service Manatee County; Rob Brown, Environmental Protection Division Manager wth Manatee County Parks and Natural Resources; and Ken Lackmann, Area Resource Conservationist with USDA-NRCS.

This story was originally published November 9, 2017 at 2:57 PM with the headline "Palmetto students take top honors in Farm City Week speech competition."