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5 THE SHEPHERD • MAY 2024 • SAINT SPYRIDON GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH OF SAN DIEGO 2024 District Oratorical Festival: On Saturday, April 6th, St. Spyridon hosted the District level of the St. John Chrysostom Festival for the first time ever! Participants traveled from as far away as Northridge, Pas- adena and Redlands. Everyone enjoyed a de- licious Lenten brunch and were entertained and enlightened by the eloquent speeches expertly researched, written and delivered by youth in the Junior (6th to 9th grade) to High School (10th to 12th grade). There were so many who helped make the event a success and worked for days tirelessly cooking and cleaning, decorating and serving. It was a vivid reminder of what makes our communi- ty so special. The volunteers included Linda Farrell, Julie Dennis, Chris Constantinou, Bill Navrides, Mike Platis, Maria Platis, Elaine Burrell, George Burrell, Jim Burrell, Nicole Galaxidas, John Galaxidas , and Pres- vytera Diane Scordalakis . Special thanks to Anthony Kyriakidis , our timekeeper, and our three judges: Fr. John Kariotakis , Dn. Rico Monge , and John (Arjan) Jooyan . Two of our participants were selected to compete at the Metropolis level of the com- petition on May 11th in Belmont, California. Maria Paraskevopoulos and Sia Paraskevo- poulos were awarded first and second place respectively in the Junior level and James Burrell was awarded third place in the Se- nior level.