Sunday, April 25, 2010

Oratorical Contest Winners Announced


Selin Jessa is the winner of the Coquitlam Optimist Club’s annual Oratorical Contest held on April 21. For her first place finish Selin received a $500 cash award. Joylyn Secunda placed second and received $250. Third-place winner Sherwyn D’Souza received $100.

On April 24, Selin and Joylyn competed in the Fraser Valley Zone Oratorical Contest, placing second and third, respectively. Selin and the zone winner from Abbotsford have advanced to compete in the Regional Oratorical Contest on May 2 against students from the Vancouver-Burnaby-North Shore-Victoria Zone. The first and second place winners from that contest will advance to the Pacific Northwest District finals with a chance to win a $2500 scholarship.

Pictured (left to right): Selin Jessa, Joylyn Secunda, Sherwyn D’Souza; (standing behind): Oratorical Chair Peter Smith

City Awards Grant for Floor Curling


The City of Coquitlam has awarded the Optimist Club a grant to purchase two sets of floor curling equipment for the benefit of children in the Tri-Cities. The club is still deciding how to develop a floor curling program but likely will make the equipment available to local schools.
According to Optimist Pacific Northwest District curling chair Al Kersey, as soon as you set out the floor curling equipment, it begins to attract kids. He demonstrated this attraction at the Fraser Valley Zone Oratorical Contest on April 24.

Optimist Club Sponsors Choral Festival

The Coquitlam Optimist Club is sponsoring the Coastal Sound International Choral Festival’s
“Synergy” festival of youth choirs. Club President Earl Pollock recently presented a cheque to the CSI Choral Festival board. Subsequently, board members David Spence and Donna Otto (pictured with Earl Pollock) visited an Optimist Club meeting for a formal thank-you.
The Synergy concert, which features four world class youth choirs, will be presented at 7:00 PM on May 1, 2010 at St. Andrews Wesley Church in Vancouver. For more information visit http://www.coastalsoundfestival.com/synergy/.

Sunday, April 11, 2010

Optimists Present Junior Curling Awards


In March, Coquitlam Optimist Club members attended the wind-up banquet and awards presentations for the Optimist Junior Interclub Curling League, where Coquitlam and Abbotsford Optimist Club members help to present the year-end awards.
The Coquitlam Optimist Club and other Optimist Clubs of the Lower Mainland, British Columbia sponsor the Junior Interclub League, which provides competition for young curlers whose home clubs range from the Chilliwack Curling Club to the Squamish and Gibsons Curling Clubs in BC and the Seattle Granite Club in Washington State. For more information see the Optimist Junior Interclub Curling League website at http://www.optimistjuniorcurling.ca/.

Friday, April 2, 2010

Optimists Announce Essay Contest Winners


Michael Nadolny, a grade 12 student at Pitt Meadows Secondary School, is the winner of the Coquitlam Optimist Club’s annual essay contest.

For his first place essay on the topic “The Internet: Today's Evolution or Tomorrow's Menace?” Michael received a cash award of $500. Jenny Tan, a grade 12 student at Killarney Secondary School, placed second and received $250. Her brother Andy Tan, a first year student at UBC, placed third and received $100.

Michael’s essay has been forwarded to Pacific Northwest District Essay Contest, where competitors sponsored by Optimist Clubs in Washington, Oregon, Idaho and British Columbia vie for a $2,500 college scholarship.