Piedmont High Student Wins Rotary Speech Contest

Piedmont High School sophomore Stephen Kelly has won the Rotary International Local Area 1 Speech Contest.

The contest was hosted by the Piedmont Montclair Rotary Club on March 18 at Sequoyah Country Club. Second place was awarded to Jason Liu, a senior at Skyline High School, representing the Oakland Sunrise Rotary Club.

 Known as the Richard D. King Speech Contest, Rotary International District 5170 sponsors the contests among some 60 Rotary Clubs from Piedmont to Palo Alto to Watsonville.

Kelly, representing the Piedmont Montclair Club, will move on to the regional contest against other area winners. Based on the 2010-2011 Rotary International Theme “Building Communities,Bridging Continents,” the speeches were four or five minutes in length. Kelly’s speech promoted a non-violent revolution against poverty and injustice while Liu’s talk explored the role of social connections, according to a Piedmont Montclair Rotary Club press release.

Prizes earned were $200 for the winner, Stephen Kelly, and $100 for the runner-up, Jason Liu. The Rotary Club thanked Piedmont High speech teacher Janet Labberton for her efforts.