By Kaitlin Malterer
4-H Correspondent
It was that time of year again for the 4-H members. The district level public speaking competition was held March 13 at Crestomere School.
The Ponoka district consists of the East Zone, Central Zone, and West Zone. 4-H members from Bluffton, Winfield, Rimbey and Ponoka were competing. All members put in a lot of effort and gave some great speeches.
In the junior division, first place went to Leah Trenson of Bluffton West Beef Club, second place went to Sylvia Trautman, also of Bluffton West Beef Club, in third was Chase Fleck of Central Ponoka Beef Club, and fourth went to Julianna Harvey of East Ponoka Beef Club.
In the intermediate division, first place went to Clinton Steeves of Bluffton West Beef Club, in second place was Kaitlin Malterer of Central Ponoka Beef Club, third went to Shelby Devet of Renegade Riders, while fourth place went to Mark denOudsten from Crestomere Multi Club.
For the senior division, Carling Matejka of West Ponoka Beef Club was first and Ashley Gartner of Central Ponoka Beef Club was second, third place went to Nola Curran of East Ponoka Beef Club, and forth place went to Gerald Schenk from the Winfield and District Beef Club.
The first and second place senior members also received scholarships of $500 for first place and $400 for second place. The top two intermediate and senior speakers will be back on March 19 for seniors and March 20 for intermediate to compete at the regional competition.
We would all like to thank our judges who came out to give us their expertise and advice and the parents and relatives who came to support us. We would also like to thank our sponsors who helped make this event possible.