Rodela repeats with a first place performance at the Lion’s Club Speech Contest

For the second straight year, Genesis Rodela takes home the top prize at the annual speech event. This year’s speech focused on artificial intelligence.

Mark Rodriguez, Pepper Bough Editor • February 19, 2025

J. Dollins

Genesis Rodela becomes the first Colton student to repeat as Zone level champ in the annual Lion’s Club speech competition. This year’s speech discussed whether Artificial Intelligence is a friend or a foe.

Colton, CA—For the second consecutive year, Genesis Rodela took top honors at the Lions Club Speech Competition on Feb. 13 in the Rivera MPR.

Colton fielded a group of eight students to participate in this year’s Lion’s Club speech competition. From left: Jeremy Cano, Karol Vasquez, Jessica Gudiel, Phillip Mugica, Tyler Morales, Leah Quinones, Andres Vasquez, Genesis Rodela Uriarte. (J. Dollins)

Each of the eight contestants was tasked with writing an opinion speech on the topic, “Artificial Intelligence: Friend or Foe?” for the chance to win the grand prize of $100.

Rodela’s speech took a more positive perspective on the topic of AI, and was bolstered by her strong, animated presentation. “I feel very proud of myself,” she said. “But if I had lost, I would have lost to some great speakers.”

“We had so many great contestants besides Genesis,” said Lucy Leyva, speech advisor and English teacher at CHS.

The other participants were Karol Vasquez, Jessica Gudiel, Andres Vazquez, Leah Quinones, Tyler Morales, Jeremy Cano, and Phillip Mugica who all earned $25 for their participation in the event.

Leyva is impressed with her students. “They have a lot of courage, and that’s something that I think a lot of adults struggle with.”

The competition at CHS was the Lion’s Club zone contest. With her victory, Rodela will advance to compete at the district contest on Mar. 8 at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Banning.

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About the Contributor

Mark Rodriguez, Staff Writer

Mark Rodriguez is a sophomore at Colton High School. Other than the fact he is taller than you would expect a 15-year old to be, he's a pretty average high school kid. He tends to get out of line, but he somehow manages to fix that (sometimes). He's "smart" but struggles because of a lack of effort. However, when he tries, he can do excellent work (according to some sources). He likes to make people laugh and smile, but somehow he still struggles to talk to people. This is Mark's second year writing for the Pepper Bough.