In addition to Tech Trek, ORE sponsors Speech Trek, a public speaking competition open to students in our area.  A timely topic is selected for students to research and present.  Cash prizes are awarded.

Speech Trek is open to all California high school students. It begins on the branch level with a speech tournament for local students and culminates with three top statewide finalists performing their five-minute speeches at the AAUW California Annual Event in April.

2022-2023 Speech Trek Topic Announced:

How Can Communities, Organizations, and Citizens of All Ages Help Protect and Expand Voting Rights?  

Donations to Speech Trek are tax deductible.  Checks must be written to AAUW CA SPF with Speech Trek on the memo line.

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2019-20 Contest Topic:

Women have been marching toward equality for over 100 years, starting with the Women’s March of 1913 and continuing to the Women’s Marches at present.  Are men and women truly equal today, or are the Suffragettes of 1920 still suffering in 2020?

Anahi Valverde placed first in the Oakdale Riverbank Escalon Branch level contest on February 26th.  She competed against three other contestants:  Brayden Storey (2nd place), Carson Dowlin, 3rd place, and Claire Cummins, 4th place.

Speech Trek is a speaking contest open to all California high school students, whether from public, private, home or continuation high schools.  Students who were among the top three finalists in the State Contest may not compete again.

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2018-2019 Contest Encouraged Students to Speak for Their Lives

The 2018-2019 Speech Trek topic was: “How can we–students, parents, faculty, our communities, and organizations such as AAUW–eliminate violence aimed at our schools? What actions can we take to prevent another tragedy from taking place?”

 

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2017-2018 Contest Topic

How Can We Stand up to Sexism?

Actress Emma Watson created the HeForShe campaign, which states in part:

“Both men and women should feel free to be sensitive.  Both men and women should feel free to be strong…it is time that we all perceive gender on a spectrum, not as two opposing sets of ideals.  If we stop defining each other by what we are not and start defining ourselves by what we are–we can all be freer and this is what HeForShe is about.  It’s about freedom.”

According to Britannica.com, sexism is defined as “prejudice or discrimination based on sex or gender, especially against women and girls. Although its origin is unclear, the term sexism emerged from the so-called “second-wave” feminism of the 1960s through the ’80s and was most likely modeled on the civil rights movement’s term racism (prejudice or discrimination based on race). Sexism can be a belief that one sex is superior to or more valuable than another sex. It imposes limits on what men and boys can and should do and what women and girls can and should do. The concept of sexism was originally formulated to raise consciousness about the oppression of girls and women, although by the early 21st century it had sometimes been expanded to include the oppression of any sex, including men and boys, intersexual people, and transgender people.”

How can we stand up to sexism?  What can individuals and organizations such as AAUW do to break down stereotypes and biases in school, at work, in the military, and in our communities?

 

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