The Junior Optimist motto is “Kids helping kids”. The first meeting of the Upper Elementary and Middle School Junior Optimist Clubs will take place after school on October 4 at the Costick Center. These clubs give children the opportunity to become active in performing community service. All interested students from Dunckel, East, Power and Warner schools should board the After School Program bus at their school, and go to the Costick Center. Students do not have to be registered with the After School Program to ride the bus and participate in the Junior Optimist Program. The meeting will provide an overview of the program. Junior Optimist Clubs at each school will elect their own leaders, and then select, plan and execute their own service project in support of children in our community. These clubs will meet once each month at their school, in the evenings. There will also be periodic joint meetings of all 11 clubs where they will make presentations about their service projects, and hear from local service organizations. On October 4, the Upper Elementary and Middle School students will see presentations from Sweet DreamzZz, the Farmington Area Goodfellows and Neighborhood House. For more information, contact Richard Lerner. Check the calendar on the right to find out when the next Junior Optimist Club meeting is taking place at your Elementary, Upper Elementary or Middle School. Candidate Profiles, Project forms and other Junior Optimist documents are available by clicking the blue button below.

The Optimist Club is pleased to announce the winners of the Oratorical Contest. Students recited speeches that were four to five minutes in length on the topic: "Cybercommunication: Progress or Problem?" The contest was open to boys and girls in the Farmington and Farmington Hills area who had not yet turned 16.

The speech contest is designed to inspire today's youth to motivate and inform others through the art of public speaking. It provides young people with the opportunity to compete for a college scholarship and express their views on a pre-assigned topic. The contests were held in March at the Maxfield Training Center and the winners are:

GIRLS

lst - Madeline Trevisan (6th grade, Power Middle School)
2nd - Pooja Singhi - 8th grade, Detroit Country Day)
3rd - Kayla LeMarbe (8th grade, East Middle School)

BOYS

lst place - Veer Shah - (8th grade, East Middle School)
2nd place -  Abhishek Shah - (8th grade, Power Middle School)
3rd place - Carter Riehl (6th grade, Power Middle School)

The winners received a total of $700 in prizes from the Optimist Club. The first place winners, Madeline Trevisan and Veer Shah went on to compete in the Regional Competition held in Southfield on Saturday, April 17. Veer Shah took first place at the Regional Contest, and will go on to compete in the State-wide Competition in Muskegon on Saturday, May 15. Congratulations to all the contestants, and we wish Veer the best of luck on May 15!