Two local high school students received first and second place awards of $100 and $75 respectively in the Falls Church Rotary Speech Contest held last Thursday at the Harvest Moon Restaurant.

Two local high school students received first and second place awards of $100 and $75 respectively in the Falls Church Rotary Speech Contest held last Thursday at the Harvest Moon Restaurant. Noah Yoo, in his junior year at Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, was awarded first place and Christine Aubry, a sophomore at Bishop Denis J. O’Connell High School, was second in the contest. Each gave a talk in under eight minutes on the topic, “Building Communities, Bridging Continents.” Noah will advance to the next level of competition. Northern Virginia Rotary District 7610 will hold the finals in the competition on March 19 in Fredericksburg. The finalists in the District Contest will compete for awards of $1,000 for first place, $500 for second place and $250 for third place. Shown left to right are Past District Governor Horace McCormack, who presented the contest awards; Falls Church Rotary Club President Dr. Joseph Akkara; Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology English Dept. Chair Milde Waterfall; Noah Yoo; Christine Aubry; Bishop O’Connell H.S. English teacher, Mary Lou Wentzel; and Falls Church Rotary Club Speech Contest Chair, Joe Scheibeler. (Photo: Courtesy Tim Aubry)