Local student wins King speech contest

Alexandra Khalil- Mustangs Ahead

(LAKEWOOD RANCH, FL) - Lakewood Ranch High School (LRHS) freshman Kathryn Kuhlmann placed first in the 2026 Martin Luther King Jr. Digital youth contest on Jan. 8 at the Palmetto Youth Center.

Kuhlmann said, “It was a fun and great experience. I enjoyed being able to speak in front of a crowd with my family there. It meant a lot to me. I had a good time writing the speech and giving it.”

Kuhlmann is a student in LRHS English teacher Stephanie Kobetitsch’s speech class. She competed along with the rest of her class.

Kuhlmann continued, “Mrs. Kobetitsch’s class has given me the opportunity to take my skills to the next level and practice.”

For winning the MLK speech contest, Kuhlmann will present her speech on Martin Luther King Jr. Day at a banquet at IMG academy.

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This year’s prompt was, “Mission Possible: Our Youth Dreaming Big, Acting Bold, Being Part of the Solution.”

Kuhlmann said, “I did it differently, instead I wrote about what it was like when kids tried to speak and be bold, and the adults were not listening to them.”

This was not Kuhlmann’s first speech competition; she has participated in a few and always thought of public speaking as fun. She hopes to do it for as long as she can.

Although she is an experienced public speaker, Kuhlmann also gets nervous before her speech, and she shares how she would get through her speeches.

“I distract myself anyway I can... usually with music. I try to calm myself and get into the right headspace. Then eventually after the speech, I would deal with my nervousness.”

There were 11 finalists and 4 of them received a placement out of Kobetitsch’s class.

Final Placements and results of the MLK speech contest included -

• 1st place: Katherine Kuhlmann
• 2nd place: Everett Russ
• 3rd place: Leilani Oladipo
• Honorable Mention: Lailah Orkin