Will Be Held Thursday Evening
First conducted in 1928, the national Optimist Oratorical Contest has continued to support youth through the decades, giving them a voice, while allowing them to earn scholarship money.
The Pacific Palisades Optimist Club will hold its contest at 7 p.m. this Thursday, March 21, at the Palisades Lutheran Church, 15905 Sunset. The community is invited to come hear the speeches.
There are 10 contestants: Julia Abbot, Ava Baak, Michael Brent, Anirudh Chatterjee, Troy Haddadi, Annabelle Parsky, Z Ramirez, Tobias Scott, Katharine Steffes and Annie Vinetz.
Each student will give a four- to five-minute speech on “Is There a Fine Line Between Optimism and Reality?”
The First-place winner will receive $200, second place is $100 and third is $50.
Three judges, Bob Klein, Naidu Permaul and Chris Lee, will have the difficult job of deciding who advances to the next round.
Klein, the president and CEO of Saint John’s Health Center Foundation, is a former professional football player and real estate developer who lives in the Palisades with his wife, Jo Ann.
Permaul retired 19 years ago after a career in labor-management relations with Los Angeles County. He is a former president of the Palisades Optimist Club and of Palisades PRIDE. The long-time resident resides here with his wife, Jane.
Lee is the president, CEO and founder of CAL Entertainment, one of the top speaker bureaus and agencies in the world. He exclusively represents living legends, pioneers of industry, best-selling authors, internationally known thought leaders and viral TED talk speakers.
Like a good “Optimist”, I will be there – thanks for reminding folks about this.