2012 Carrollton-Farmers Branch Four Way Test Speeches

Front Row: Marlee Vadergrift, Merryn McNeil, Michael Schrag, Kevin King       
Back Row:  Dr. Bobby Burns and Hans Mecker

 Students from all four high schools competed in the Four Way Test Speech Competition at our regular meeting on February 16th. This is one of our favorite meetings every year. The students this year were Kevin King from Creekview High School, Marlee Vandergrift from Ranchview High School, Michael Schrag from Newman Smith, and Merryn McNeil from Turner High School.

Marlee talked about Reality Television and how so much of what we are seeing on TV does not come close to measuring up to the four way test. Kevin talked about how our four fathers built this country focusing on "We" and not "Me". If more people would focus on the four way test, our country would begin to gravitate back to what has made this country what it is today. Michael, talked about the negative 2012 campaigning and how it does not even come close to measuring up to the four way test. Finally, Merryn talked about how our Virtual World is impacting our Real World. Twitter is taking the place of fact-to-face conversation and reducing the personal interaction, especially among young people.

All of these speeches were outstanding making the judge’s decision very difficult. Marlee was our 4th place winner with Michael claiming 3rd place. Merryn came in 2nd place. Our 1st place winner was Kevin King from Creekview High School.

It is refreshing to know that young people like Marlee, Michael, Merryn, and Kevin will be our future leaders and the Four Way Test will be part of their decision making as they pursue their respective careers.