Her passion for the topic helped push her over the top.

Rachel Martin’s speech on Bullying was judged the best at the Troy Rotary Club’s 4-Way Speech Contest.

Martin is a Junior at Troy High School.

The contest is an annual event in which participants write their speech with the Rotary Four Way Test as the main focal point. They then deliver the speech from memory, with no notes, props or visual aids.

Martin will now represent the Troy club at the District competition in April at Wright State University. The district encompasses Rotary clubs throughout Southwest Ohio.

Coming in second was Emma Shingley, a sophomore at Troy High School. Her speech was on Confidence Levels.

Six students from the area had signed up for the contest, but four cancelled at the last minute. One had a death in the family and three had previous commitments.

Martin said that bullying has become a passion for her. “I know kids who have committed suicide because they were bullied so mercilessly,” she said. “There’s no sense to it.”

During her speech, she related a story of a social outcast she met at a summer camp. “I decided to sit with him at lunch one day,” she said, and their friendship blossomed from there. “He would go on for hours talking about things on his mind.”

A few days after returning home from camp, she received a letter from her new friend. He told her that because of her friendship, he decided to cancel his plans to commit suicide. “I cried when I read it,” she said.

“I never competed in a speech contest before,” said Shingley. “I wanted to see what it’s like.”

One of the main points of her speech was that pessimists are bringing our country down and prevents them from being successful. “Surround yourself with optimistic people so that you can be the best that you can be,” she said.

Contestants are judged on the content of their speech and on their delivery. The four principles of the Rotary Four-Way Test that must be the focal point of each speech are:

• Is it the Truth?
• Is it Fair to all Concerned?
• Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships
• Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?

For their efforts, Martin was awarded a cash prize of $250, and Shingley received $150.

“I’m going to save it for college,” said Shingley.