Montrose Student Wins Medfield Lions Annual Youth Speech Contest

Montrose Student Wins Medfield Lions Annual Youth Speech Contest

Jennifer Uche, a North Attleboro resident and a sophomore at the Montrose School in Medfield, was the winner at the Medfield Lions Club annual Youth Speech Competition held December 4. Speakers were asked to write a speech between 5 and 8 minutes in length addressing the question, “What is heroism?”

The Massachusetts Lions Youth Speech Competition is an annual statewide competition open to all high school students. Individual Lions Clubs hold first-round competitions each December to choose a local winner to sponsor for higher levels of competition. Intermediate rounds of the competition take place throughout January and February, with the State Champion chosen at the Lions State Convention in the spring.

The Medfield Lions open their local competition to any interested student who lives or attends school in Medfield. This year’s competition drew 5 students, although many more participated at the school level. Each student had a different take on the question, “What is heroism?” Their answers ranged from first responders and the military, to the aunt who put one speaker up for adoption to get her out of Ethiopia, to cartoon characters Garfield and SpongeBob SquarePants.

Miss Uche moves on to the next level of competition against students chosen by other Lions Clubs in January.

The Medfield Lions presented her with a $100 prize for becoming their local hero.