LHS Senior Earns Third Place Medal At IHSA Speech State Finals

LEMONT, IL — Lemont High School senior Reema Dhawan placed third in Special Occasion Speaking at the 2020 IHSA speech state finals, which were contested Feb. 21-22 at the Peoria Civic Center. The school said Dhawan became just the fifth student in program history to earn a state medal, and only the third Lemont student to place third or better at the IHSA Speech State Finals.

Juniors Nour Longi (Original Oratory) and Lauren Rearden (Humorous Interpretation) joined Dhawan in making their state finals debuts and tied for 10th and 15th, respectively, in their competitions, according to the school.

Lemont matched a program single-season record by qualifying three students for state finals competition, thanks to their performances at the IHSA Reavis Sectional Feb. 15. Lemont has qualified at least one student for state finals competition in eight of 12 seasons, the school said. Head coach Phil Lazzari’s team first had three state qualifiers in one season in 2017.