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Shane Riter wins third
in nation, first in state speaking contests
“How safe is our future?” That was the title of the speech that won Shane Riter first place in state competition and third place in national competition in the School Bus Safety Speech Contest. Mr. Riter is a senior at Croatan High School and is the son of Larry and Karen Riter of Broad Creek. The National School Bus Safety Speech Contest is designed to challenge high school students across the country to speak out about school transportation safety. On the state level, the contest was sponsored by the North Carolina Association of School Bus Safety. On the national level, the contest was conducted by the National Association for Pupil Transportation (NAPT) and sponsored by school bus manufacturer Corbeil Bus. “The topic of my speech was how we can make school buses safer,” Mr. Riter said. “Our drivers are given too many responsibilities. We need another adult on school buses to assist the driver. “Bullying on school buses is much more likely to happen when there is only one adult on the bus. We put double the number of students that are in one classroom on a bus and then only have one person to look out for them.” Mr. Riter is involved with Teen Court. He plans to attend college and possibly pursue a career in law. He entered a speech contest last year and enjoyed the experience. This year Croatan High School Counselor Becky Stewart and Teacher Lynn Hunsucker told him about the Bus Safety Speech Contest. The state competition took place in Raleigh. Mr. Riter receive first place in that competition and a video tape of his winning presentation was sent to the NAPT regional selection committee. Mr. Riter was also required to send the five-member regional team copies of the text of the speech, a bibliography of sources used in preparing the speech and a letter of endorsement from a local civic organization. The regional team selected Mr. Riter’s speech as the winner. Mr. Riter was then contacted and invited to present his speech at the NAPT National Conference in Cincinnati, Ohio. Mr. Riter attended the conference with his parents and received third place in the national competition. The overall winner was a student from Texas. “We want teenagers to think seriously about their choice of transportation to and from school,” Willie Tarleton, chair of the NAPT speech contest said. “Riding in a yellow school bus may not be the ‘cool’ thing to do in high school, but it is the safest way to go. Driving yourself, or riding with friends, is nearly a hundred times more dangerous. Teens need to hear the facts from other teens. “By challenging teenagers to speak out on the subject, we hope they will all come away with a better understanding of transportation safety issues that affect their lives,” Mr. Tarleton continued. “They will also develop good public speaking skills that will help in college and in their future careers.” Open to any high school student in the nation, the contest requires participants to conduct research about school buses and other forms of transportation to and from school, and to then compose and present a 4-6 minute speech without notes. According to Mr. Tarleton, the state contests feed into the national finals.
Additional
information about NAPT and the National School Bus Safety Speech Contest
is available online at www.napt.org. |
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Carteret
County Public School System |
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