Chris Wong, 17, wins speech contest on “My biggest challenge.”

Standing, from left, Joon Lee, Nikki Kodama, JAO President Jeff Tani, Anne Nguyen, Linda Molthen and Alexander Kim. Seated, from left, Alisha Bosset, C’aira Converson, Amy Yu, Crystal Lopez, Devon Hatcher and Chris Wong. Not pictured is Bryana Henderson.

Public speaking is a forgotten art in most public schools. Japanese American Optimist Club of Los Angeles (JAO) recognized the need to promote communication skills amongst students and responded by creating a forum for expression with their club’s Oratorical Contest. This year’s contest was the largest in recent memory.

Amongst a field of seven competitors, Chris Wong, a 17-year-old student from Los Altos High School took first place at this year’s Oratorical Contest sponsored by the Japanese American Optimist Club. Two other students Alisha Bosset and Devon Hatcher, both from Animo Inglewood Charter High School also received second and third place respec­tively. The other competitors were Amy Yu and Crystal Lopez from Los Altos, and Bryana Henderson and C’aira Converson from Animo Inglewood. The contestants addressed the contest topic, “My biggest challenge is…”, with the first place com­petitor Wong sharing his thoughts about growing up with a single parent.

“It was inspiring to hear the students speaking about the challenges that they face as they reminded the club members of why youth focused organizations like JAO are so important in today’s world. I hope that the Oratorical Contest will encourage participants to continue to de­velop communication skills that will help them beyond their high school years,” said Oratorical Chair Nikki Kodama, who is also the current Miss JAOptimist.

JAO sponsors this annual contest, held at Taix’s French Restaurant in Echo Park, to give high school students an op­portunity to develop and practice their public speaking skills with an audience of judges and JAO club members.

This year’s judges were Alexander Kim, a deputy director to Gov. Schwar­zenegger, Anne Nguyen, a lawyer with Bingham McCutchen LLP, and Joon Lee, a manager for UCLAExtension’s Technical Management Program.

“Nikki’s coordination effort this year was tremendous as shown by the suc­cess of this program. Usually we have three competitors each year but to have seven this year was extraordinary!” said JAO President, Jeff Tani, after the contest. “To see the ideas expressed by these high school students was amazing. Along with the other JAO members, I was truly enthralled to watch each of them deliver their speeches.”

For their efforts, Wong, Bosset and Hatcher were presented with medallions along with prizes donated by JAO. The other competitors also received participa­tion gifts from the club. Both Wong and Bosset have also been invited to an Area Oratorical competition to compete against contest winners from other local Optimist Clubs. Depending on their success at the area level, they may be eligible for schol­arships provided by Optimist International at the district competition.

JAO is a volunteer service organization under Optimist dedicated to helping the youth of our community. For more information about JAO please see the JAO website, http://www.jaoptimist.org.