on wednesday nights that teaches kids leadership skills from career and so i still on occasion meet with them or help out with activities and then there's another program that meets tuesday evenings and saturday mornings that develops critical thinking problem solving  poken and written communication skills and so i still participate in that public speaking we can kids just last weekend to saginaw state university where they competed on the state level in state history day and one of the groups actually won the best latino hispanic exhibit of the whole event of the state so it was pretty awesome to be to see the kids who have never been involved in those kinds of things before in their school career and have this opportunity to shine skills that the students learn their program and so in this program we learn further leadership skills public speaking skills critical thinking and skills not only that help you academically but i help you in the real world so our last year's end of the year project is we took a problem that we felt was something that needed to be addressed in the community and we applied are critical thinking and help us improve it's a really great program because for a lot of kids that can't get into a p classes in high school because their g p a it gives them same skills and college and also just in their future in any aspect don't forget to visit the food side the booth and here and don't forget on the north side over here this wall there's also over there so please remember to go in and visit them there's a lot of different things going on which is this is always my favorite part of the contest i'm sure most girls would think so too but we're going to move on to the formal wear of a contests and the first person opposite nissan fowler she attends black river public school she is fifteen years old fifteen years of age and she's a sophomore her parents are e g a ghetto fall or n p r followed junior she has two siblings j p and julian foller her favorite subject is government because she enjoys debating and gaining knowledge of current events she is presently involved in calling all colors raise your voice rotary club school my parents are maria and i enjoy learning about different cultures of the differences among their customs in my free time i attend the weekly meetings of the two programs that have come to be a huge part of my life also i participate in events produced by the french club such as french night which allowed little kids to learn about the french culture while giving their parents a break to enjoy being alone in the past i was a student senate secretary for the class of two thousand and fourteen as well as a member of pauline all colors my hobbies include drawing painting acting dancing sewing babysitting and generally increasing my knowledge of the a whole on a daily basis i enjoy spending time with my niece natalie the annie i must say that baby see her is one of the things i enjoy most i like to fill my days with activities and programs that allow me to expand my way of thinking since i am planning to become a psychologist i hope to attend the international university of france for at least the semester and then hope college ladies and gentleman norma wen sorry i enjoy the complexity of science i'm involved in the hollow the high school boys cross country and the first robotics program and many other school activities i spend some of my extra time volunteer in my school during the school open house events and other after school events my career goals are to attend a college or university where i plan to major in chemical engineering and minor in business i would like to attend college because it is one of the best schools to study science and engineering i would also like to attend the university of michigan because of their good program schools have excellent business programs also ladies and gentlemen del now we'd like to take this opportunity to introduce to you the program coordinator for latin latin americans united for progress i'm not sure where he is here comes one   so now they're u s citizens get a chance to ball and things of that nature we hold classes at the mit campus and and hope college campus i brought a friend with me it's name is jessica  ok i like he said just again i just have to talk a little bit about the t v program what we do in the program is you go you use a book you sit down and then you just you star in whatever subject you want to start and if you have any questions then we help you and it's just  there's a lot a lot of little prizes going on here so make sure you do the raffle because there's a lot of great prizes thank you all right thank you juan all right i appreciate your patience we are coming to the last portion of the judging and at this time we're going to have the contestants come out and give their speech and so i'd just like to make a quick special announcement if i could before they do this this is a time where they put together something that they share from their heart and we're going to ask that everyone would give them their full attention it's very difficult number one to be up here let alone just to be up here but to be up here and have to talk gets a little more little more  scarier but if we could ask like the booths and all the talking that's going on if we could bring that down to a minimal we're going to reduce our first contestant she's going to give a speech and will go through all four so ladies and gentlemen let me introduce to you  for example a positive influence that my family stresses would be of value for education which means that i will be the first in my family members to graduate from college many of my family members have attended college one has yet to receive a diploma my grandfather has always wanted to play college sports and that is my goal it is also my goal to make him proud straight or consistent houseroom can go hand in hand with being both positive and negative impacts my family tries to come to a compromise if i ask to say out to levon my as an adolescent when a child observes their parent drinking alcohol on a regular basis they grow up becoming a teenager or young adults thinking that it's acceptable let's break the cycle by family and come up with a compromise to stop substance abuse have strict home and have a value for not only education but also  will be talking to you are embracing diversity here in the holly community having lived in it that was not as diverse as holland i know how hard it is when i was young i lived in bakersfield california town have only populated by hispanic which i remember when i was growing up living in going to a school that consisted of ninety eight percent when i was about ten and my dad told me and my sisters that we would be moving to holland michigan we were extremely excited thrilled that we would finally move to a place that had four seasons a place in which we could see snow the beauty of the snow has now become rich a tragedy transition from a diverse town to an extremely diverse town was extremely hard on all of us we had to learn to accept different cultures open up to new experiences and look beyond stereotypes associated with blacks asians hispanics whites and in mixed races we have lived in holland for about seven years and we have adapted to its diverse and the sphere but every now and then we come across those who yet have not and to those who yet have embraced the diversity here in holland i tell you that there is various ways to feel comfort around different races for one you must look past you must look past the common stereotypes common stereotypes are the ones that say that all americans are lazy potatoes and intelligence and all girls all girls only care about their physical appearance stereotypes are stereotypes are barriers to reaching success they wrote a blo those being stereotyped as well as those stereotypes so let us move past those common stereotypes also have fun go to a culture of dance that let you expand your knowledge  different races events such as this fiesta or even laos new year or june teen these events will allow you to expand your knowledge and learn more about the culture of different races you will be able to understand a person better and you will be able to connect more with them go out to eat with the person of a different culture or even learn a new language sensitive that language is the best way to embrace a culture  we should everyone must learn to a sap to embrace and celebrate the diversity found here in holland thank you just turned sixteen when she was found dead october tenth two thousand and five jessica laney a seventeen year old getting ready for college was found hung in her bedroom december of two thousand and twelve although all three of these young girls are very different they all have one thing in common they all fell victim to billy's bullying is when you intimidate someone into doing something you want to do there's four types of bullying physical verbal social and cyber bully cyber bullying is when you are harassed or threatened online there's no limitation the cyber bullying because there's so much you can do behind a computer with messaging text messages and social media websites like facebook and twitter it's becoming way easier for bullies to torment their victims and tarnish the reputation of all bullying is bad cyber bullying alone has become the number three leading cause of death among young people it's basically become an epidemic seventy percent of teens have admitted to have been threatened or intimidated online forty four percent have admitted to being the bully with today's technology it's so simple to bully someone without personal one on one consultation you may sit here and ask yourself this is very important because more and more teens are being tormented online don't just sit there and let the next victim be a relative or a neighbor do something about it we can all come together as a community and help help help because when i was a freshman i thought of going to school and then go home and do my homework and i was it just relaxed enough and i know most of the people are like that just relax but i thought i was not being progressive so i talked to my purpose in the chorus for me to do it so by the next day i went to my teacher and i talked to her and she told me yeah you should do it so but the next day or two days later she talked to me and she said  you know i found this to have the interest that you have and you like and the first robotics seventy four when i got there and i first the first thing i robotics was just make a robot and that was it and compete there was something that i found out later it was not it was not just only just making a robot it was also about leadership positions you can learn leadership in the team beyond the business management position too so this all these things that you can learn but also we do community service with the team i think right now they're planning to do a float for the i think that's tomorrow  by year the money is increasing more because they know that the students are getting more interesting in engineering in science and so they join more and that's one of the unique things i like about it because by next year this coming year for  school year i'll be a senior and i have to apply for a college scholarships and i want the money for college and that's free money so my point is that students should get involved in all these leadership so like right now we we have organized in this and i bought into you to do it and i wanted to participate and right now i want the students to think about it about all these things that are offered so one them to get out of and expand their conflict because this feeling that i have a right now in speaking to you is making me nervous college and pursue careers and also empowers them through leadership training and public speaking skills and also encourages students and provide students tours to companies and with connections time for years so what is the aged care for the you'll proclamation mr america thanks frank i appreciate it good morning everyone morning afternoon something like that it's close it is so good to see all of you and to be here today with you you know i  wish frankly that i could speak to you in some spanish however unfortunately never quite learned the language so well so that's probably not a good thing but i know my two children are learning spanish which i think tells us something about what is happening in this community generation to generation and all of what you are doing here today and we are doing here together i think is a further signification of that happening as well one thing before i read a couple lines from the annual proclamation and then hand it to frank for the official records yesterday i had the great opportunity to have our good friend the consul general from mexico who is based in detroit back here in holland he actually is moving now to to fresno california he got a new posting by the government of mexico and he is such a wonderful wonderful man and has been such a good friend to all of us in holland i will tell you that he has a very special place in his heart for holland for a couple of reasons one because of our tremendous relationship to the city of holland has had for years and years and years with good editor all in mexico and the second is that his daughter is a student at ho college so i know that we have great friends in the in the consulate and it is so good to have all of you here today let me read a couple lines from the proclamation i won't read it all because i know really what you'd like to see is who is going to  who's going to wear the crown in the south so all right whereas hispanic families in the holland area have made contribution and so very many ways toward the development of business industry education and social institutions whereas the holland hispanic community forms an integral part of local companies schools churches organizations and other institutions where as a latin americans united for progress will hold its annual latin american fiesta in the holland holland civic center in excuse me in the holland civic center and may twenty thirteen and whereas the significance and importance of all the members of holland's hispanic community have been affirmed in the official recognition of santiago they could  oh mexico as holland's only sister city and that this ister city relationship is for ever affirmed by the presence of the beautiful stone fountain that stands in collin park as well as a children's playground that stands in get at the rope park at the holland in kid at the row now therefore be it resolved that i could die extra mayor of the city of holland and on behalf of all the city council do hereby proclaim may for twenty thirteen as hispanic heritage day and it is my pleasure to urge all citizens of holland to together celebrate this very important day in the life of our community signed on this day with my signature s land americans united for progress scholarships are awarded on the basis of need scholastic achievement first generation college enrollment community involvement in a personal statement and a personal interview we are  excited about all the scholarships and awards that we are able to give to our re holland high school she babysits and is currently employed at wendy's after one month of working on the job she was awarded employee of the month she plans to attend hope college in the fall and afterwards go to law school her aspirations include helping other people she plans to someday become an immigration lawyer to help individuals and those who have been affected by the immigration laws and her goal is to keep families united congratulations andy the second recipient from holland high school as brenda activities clubs include culture works other than mas other month then nationals honor society digital connectors habitat for humanity she volunteers a church and she does random volunteer assignments at school she's involved in pails she's a member of the national honor society honor roll and has won a district are toward her future includes hope college and her aspirations are to find a career where she can help people she wants to make a difference with those around her as you want to travel to many countries to explore different cultures and read religions congratulations directivity is clubs volunteers include she's a member of the national honor society she volunteers at youth group and in her church as an earth nursery and she is an all star in high school for all three years have been a a of at or above three point five her future college is grace bible college her aspirations include completing her education finding a job as a social worker and someday getting married and having a family congratulations in educating where i will have the chance to help young mind growing nerd learn and development she belongs to the fellowship of christian athletes student council national honor society she is on the honor roll she has gone to the university of michigan and she would one day like to become a biomedical chemist in the future congratulations and youth group latino all stars she was on the low vs the queen last year and youth of the year two thousand and thirteen and she will be gone to grand rapids community college and  grand valley state university and calvin college her desire is to become a social worker i would like to prepare to work with the use and reach out to them also what is really in my heart is to become an advocate for immigration i can volunteer for two of panis her current awards are the honor roll the way to create a incentive program and her future college of choice is the university of michigan she aspires to be a bio physicists in the future congratulations diana next scholarship winner is kyle hernandez kyle hernandez is from holland high school he's a member of the national honor society member of the grand rapids crew juniors m r l gold soccer team and he helps with the girls  soccer team at holland high school and as a junior rotarian for the holland rotary club his future college is going to be kalamazoo college his aspirations he would like to say that he aspires to become someone that that  my ten year old self would look up to meaning i aspire to inspire a younger generation to achieve success and to reach for their dreams congratulations kyle our next scholarship winner is right helio put her on the hill leo is from holland high school his activities include stay active adelanto youth group track and field and other sports in holland high school and rogers also a member of the national honor society rodgers currently at the two thousand and twelve king his future college is going to the university of michigan and he hopes to one day become either physical therapists or physician assistant congratulations  is a senior at highland high school her activities are band symphony orchestra jazz band percussion ensemble slick dutch dance they are they land they hope college honors band and raise your voice awards are the way to make three scholarships solo an ensemble first and second division models her future college will be grand valley state university she's unsure of what she wants to do she isn't sure she wants to study but she definitely wants to continue her music career and possibly studies psychology is a student from zealand west high school her activities include the national honor society calling all colors student leaders initiating change blood drives mentoring elementary school children and varsity softball her current awards are principals honor roll and her future colleges davenport university she aspires to be a forensic accountant to help our government prevent victims of crime i believe in congratulations to you all can you please stay up here for an hour please first of all we need all of you to stay for a second load scholarship committee would like to give a special think you to heinz north america heinz  chemical bank workforce employment and the bad nose family for their generous donations i would think you all for helping these students reach their dream in addition this year we have another scholarship provided by the be all family one of these will also receive which they do not know they are they don't know this is new to them will be received in the below family scholarship it's administered by law and it is a thousand dollars and it will be renewable for the next three years so thank you very all right we're going to ask you guys to come off the stage now we need to do and i guess they want you to kind of stick together right over here to the side if you would please we're going to kind of make room for the reason why we're here today in a few moments but before we go there and before we announce the winners we'd like to say a couple of think use if you've not noticed already we are a group that loves to say thank you we would like to thank the king and queen committee members who have worked with the contestants over the past several months the first two people that i want to bring out here are randy aguilar and liz deleuze would you to please come out first please these two i think a been a partnering in this for how many y did he leave you again this is crazy that's crazy just there is randi everybody randy and liz how long have you two been kind of doing this together six seven years together let's give them a big round of applause there's a lot that goes in on this we thank you both for your leadership your commitment your willingness to do this every year the same headaches just bigger the year after and you still come back and do it we love you for that we also want to make mention of a few individuals that are listed here for their contributions for those of us contest your d n a dickinson from how a bank louise croon from this next announcement goes probably to most of the people that are sitting out there in those chairs it's very very important to know that parents and family members of these contestants are very very instrumental in getting these kids to where they are today so we want to give another thank you to parents family members have supported the contests the contestants of the past summer months it takes a lot of time and commitment on their part they couldn't have done that done this without your love and support so thank you very very much and give yourselves a round  applause come on now ok now it's going to finish up all right now on to our first award it is the congeniality award this award that is voted on by the contestants themselves and before we go any further because i don't want to lose sight of this first and foremost from this point forward regardless of who wins or not you're all winners the fact that you're willing to do this to come out and take time out of your busy schedule to support your community to support your culture is phenomenal and so i just want to know there are no losers today we're all winners the thank you very much  this is awesome and ladies you look at this down a scene fantastic so the congeniality winner is mr congeniality del night all right before crowning the king and queen we would like to share with you some of their immediate duties and gives they will be receiving this year the king and queen are always invited to the two of time governors luncheon to start the pledge of allegiance which happens on wednesday and then the entire court will participate in the parade of bands and next weeks during next week saturday's parade and the title sponsor for that flow that you'll be on  is workforce employment specialist this court gets to ride together on a float this year isn't that awesome thank you workforce also as part of their gifts the king and queen will receive of the me a m and noon rotary clubs of holland a fifteen hundred dollars scholarship to ten rotary district sixty nine sixty two ninety's life leadership conference and again from workforce employment specialists they will receive their own i pad t i don't know if they knew that or not as so and what my sink you for all the make in this contest such a success this year so now we're going to go on to the winner i had the distinct privilege and honor to have kiersten open up the below for this i know i'm playing it up just the way i work alone let me do this to open up the for this year's king now i tell you what it was a close race i understand that there were write ins and i think i was i was a close second i know that i have two votes one two and then i with what we've all been waiting for with these three lovely ladies priest up to the front of the stage