Andrea Villarreal, a Patterson High School senior, took third place Feb. 29 in the Area 5 Rotary Speech Contest at Patterson City Hall. Villarreal, daughter of Maria Alvarez, competed against students from Gustine, Los Banos, Dos Palos and Orestimba high schools.

Gustine High School junior Abraham Akhtar, son of Michael and Rabia Akhtar, won first place, while Mattea Clarke, a junior at Los Banos High, and daughter of Ron and Andrea Clarke took second.

Honorable mentions went to Orestimba High’s Trevor Beach, the freshman son of Norman and Maria Beach; and Dos Palos High’s Andrea Avina, the junior daughter of Jose Avina and Marcela Garcia.

The students spoke on the topic “Reach Within to Embrace Humanity,” chosen by Rotary District Governor David Mantooth of the Escalon Sunrise Rotary Club. Speakers told how they, others and Rotary International must strive to better serve humanity.

Katrena Borba of Patterson Rotary Club was the Area 5 contest chairwoman and hosted the event.

Fifty Rotary clubs in the district had contests this winter, and winners went on to area competition. The top four speakers from the 12 area speech contests will be in the finals at the Rotary District Conference in Modesto on April 21.