Briggs School students sweep SP Rotary Four-Way Test Essay Contest
June 07, 2013
By Peggy Kelly
Santa Paula News
Three Briggs School students took the prizes in the Santa Paula Rotary Club’s Four-Way Test Essay Contest.
Briggs School Principal Brandon Gallagher and 8th grade teacher Dora Stork were on hand at a recent Rotary meeting to help congratulate winners Adam Castro (1st Place, $100 prize), Cassidy Eagleston (2nd Place, $50 prize) and Ashley Aguilar (3rd Place, $25 prize).
All schools were invited to participate in the competition that centers on the Rotary’s famed Four-Way Test, the Rotarian’s way of judging their thoughts, words and actions by determining: 1) Is it the truth? 2) Is it fair to all concerned? 3) Will it build good will and better friendships? And 4) Will it be beneficial to all concerned?
Essay Contest Chairman and Santa Paula Elementary School District Superintendent Dr. Paul Chounet noted the students had a strong challenge, as essays were capped at 150 words. “It’s hard to express a lot of thought,” noted Chounet, “and very hard to address all four elements of the Four-way Test” with a limited word count.
Chounet noted his thanks to all students who entered the contest, including those from the Briggs Unified School District whose “teacher I saw at a restaurant and asked if they would like to participate.... Many of the entries were very good, but these three were the best.”
The winning entries of the Briggs students will advance to the Rotary Club District #5240 level, where they could be selected for more cash rewards.
The 4-Way Test has guided Rotary, an international organization founded in 1905 in Chicago by Paul Harris and friends, since 1942. The test was developed by Rotarian and entrepreneur Herbert J. Taylor during the Great Depression as a set of guidelines for restoring faltering businesses, and was adopted as the standard of ethics by Rotary in 1942.
