QUICK FACTS

Date: March 4, 2018

Time: 9:00 AM - 12:00 PM

Place: Started and finished in Social Hall

Total No. of Speakers: 19 (+ 3 students in Grade 6)

Results: Please see below.

Congratulations to all students who participated in our parish Oratorical Festival and delivered speeches!

They are all winners!

JUNIOR DIVISION SPEAKERS (Grades 6 & 7-9)

[All students received "Honorable Mention" as listed.]

7th-9th Grade: 12 students presented their speeches:

No. Topic Speaker

1 4 Zoe Patselas

2 5 Alex Theros

3 2 Alexa Webber

4 3 Ethan Hochendoner

5 1 Zack Chalogianis

6 2 Elizabeth Kolias (Runner up)

7 1 Maya Abdallah(Runner up)

8 1 Marisa Cotitsas

9 1 Luke Savas

10 2 Constantina Perakis

11 2 Jonah Radwanski (Finalist)

12 4 Alex Rouman

6th grade participants:

No. Topic Speaker

1 2 Harry Kotsis

2 1 Alexis Perakis

3 2 Marisa Savas

TOPICS: JUNIOR DIVISION (Grades 7-9)

• 1. In John 15:13–15, Jesus teaches about friendship to His disciples. Discuss the importance of friendship in your life.

  2. Choose a parable from the Gospel of Luke and discuss how it speaks to our contemporary life.

  3. Talk about a time and circumstance when you were in awe and wonder – where you sensed the majesty of God.

  4. Discuss how prayer, fasting, serving others, or study of Orthodoxy assists you with your relationship with Christ and the Church.

  5. In Mark 2:1–12, four men remove a roof in order to bring a paralytic to Jesus to be healed. How inventive are we in bringing people to Jesus for healing?

Special Visit by Bishop Neophytos of Nieri and Mt Kenya

We had a special blessing this year as his Grace Bishop Neophytos of Nieri and Mount Kenya was delayed at Detroit Metro while returning back to Kenya. He was hosted by our Priests and Parish as well as Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit. For the first time, our Oratorical Festival group entered the Church twice, first to listen to the Holy Gospel and the sermon by Bishop Neophytos, and later to take Holy Communion.

In his sermon Bishop Neophytos talked about God's call to "push on the boulder in the road", through prayer, perseverance, understanding, forgiveness, love. It is up to God, however, to remove the boulder from the road, and He does so in His own time and way.

SENIOR DIVISION SPEAKERS (Grades 10-12)

[All students received "Honorable Mention" as listed.]

10th-12th Grades: 7 students presented their speeches:

No. Topic Speaker

1 3 George Hauck

2 5 Stephanie Cotitsas

3 4 Anastasia Papageorgiou (Runner up)

4 2 Alexandra Chalogianis

5 1 Gabriel Necula (Runner up)

6 1 Luke Warhurst

7 1 Sam Radwanski (Finalist)

TOPICS: SENIOR DIVISION (Grades 10-12)

• 1. People often say, “It felt right” in order to explain their decisions. How many of our decisions factor in not only our feelings but also the will and commandments of God?

  2. Christ’s disciples made the commitment to follow Him without knowing what the outcome might be. What does it mean to follow Christ today?

  3. How can we have religious conversations on social media in an age of trolling?

  4. Christ said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear” (Mark 4:9). The Lord said this with reference to the way we hear the word of God. What is our response?

  5. Our lives are saturated with violence, not only in terms of the proliferation of war and terrorism but even as entertainment through movies and video games. In such an environment, how can a Christian cultivate virtues that lead to empathy, peacemaking, and self-sacrifice?

SPECIAL THANKS

Judges:

Panagioti Apostolou, Toula Saratsis, Gail Sinwell

Church School Directors:

Katherine Phan, Photios G. Ioannou

Church School Teachers:

Tony Michalopoulos, Dani Nadra,

Nick Chapekis Jr., Sophia Grias, Robert Templeman,

Brendan Haug, Ioana Nadra, Deno Prokos

Opening Prayer & Video: Deno Prokos

Timekeeper: Brendan Haug

Speaker Order/Room Coordinators:

Pam Petropoulos, Ioana Nadra

Photography: Jennifer Patselas

Oratorical Festival Poster: Dimitris Papageorgiou

Church coordination: Eva Michail, Harry Kotsis

Hospitality - Judges: Kalliroy Warhurst

Hospitality - Parish: Stacy Garris

Hospitality Assistance: Pam Petropoulos, Niki Wardner, Perry Katsikas, Lana Panagoulia

Oratorical Instruction/Education: Artemis Alex

Special Oratorical Instructor: Nicholas Phan

Festival Chair: Vicki Kiningham

Closing Prayer: Metropolitan Nicholas of Detroit

In loving memory of Mara Krause