Four-Way Test Speech Contest

Four-Way Test Speech Contest submitted by Lark Gerry

Contest Chair and CHS Principal Brett O’Connor introduced the annual 4-Way Speech Contest, just one of many youth projects sponsored by our Club in partnership with Rotary District 5300. This year the theme is Rotary Connects the World. Students shared perspectives on the Four-Way Test, based on Herb Taylor’s famous statement on business ethics that we have adopted in Rotary.

Of the things we think, say or do:

Is it the TRUTH?

Is it FAIR to all concerned?

Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIP?

Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?

There were three contestants all from Claremont High

School:

Alex Abarca, a senior, will attend Yale University, hopes to become a lawyer specializing in government. Melissa Glover, a senior, plans to attend a university here in California to study psychology, political science and/or American sign language. Maltin Tocani, a junior, whose short term goal is to graduate from high school, long term goal is medical school.

A bit of history on the 4-Way Test: 

From the earliest days of the organization, Rotarians were concerned with promoting high ethical standards in their professional lives. One of the world’s most widely printed and quoted statements of business ethics is The 4- Way Test, which was created in 1932 by Rotarian Herbert J. Taylor (who later served as RI president) when he was asked to take charge of a company that was facing bankruptcy. This 24 word test for employees to follow in their business and professional lives became the guide for sales, production, advertising, and all relations with dealers and customers, and the survival of the company is credited to this simple philosophy. Adopted by Rotary in 1943, The 4-Way Test has been translated into more than a hundred languages and published in thousands of ways.