Six students from Dawson County Middle School were honored by the Dawson Optimist Club on May 17.

The students entered and won first, second or third place in the local Optimist Oratorical Contest.

This year’s topic was “Cyber Communication: Progress or Problem?”

The first place male and female students were Matt Holton and Miranda Abe, both of whom gave their speeches to the Optimist Club members at the meeting. Both students also recently represented Dawson Optimists at the Zone 4 competition in Gainesville.

Second place winners were Megan Eipper and Cole Simmons.

Third place went to Peyton Porter and Eli Wilkins.

All were presented with medals by local club secretary/treasurer Jim Bailey, who served as project coordinator for the contest.

In fulfilling the motto of Optimist International: “Bringing out the best in kids,” Optimist clubs have been sponsoring the student oratorical contest for many years.

For the past five years, Jenny Aldred, Dawson County Middle School teacher, has been helping Dawson County students enter and compete.

For four of those years, the Jasper Optimist Club sponsored and secured judges for the contest. This year’s competition was headed up by the newly formed Dawson Optimist Club.

The Dawson Optimist Club meets at noon the first and third Mondays of each month at Ryan’s on Ga. 400. Anyone interested in joining, should call Jim Bailey at (706) 268-1725.