Westborough High Senior, Megan Ku, Wins State Speech Contest!

Megan Ku, a senior at Westborough High School, won the Massachusetts Lions Youth Speech Competition on Saturday, April 28th. She is pictured above with Lions Clubs International 1st Vice President, Gudrun Yngvadottir from Iceland, and Westborough Lions Club President, Angelo Cavaliere. The competition was held at the Lions Multiple District 33 State Convention in Mansfield, MA. Previously the winner of the District 33A contest, Megan competed against the winners of the other four Districts to be named 'Best in State'. All of the contestants were students in grades 9 through 12 from cities and towns throughout Massachusetts.

The speech topic was 'What is the Impact of Volunteerism?' and was required to be no less than five, but no more than eight minutes in length. The contestants were allowed to use one notecard for prompts, but several, including Megan, gave their speeches from memory. The speeches were judged on delivery, effectiveness, and text. All of the five state finalists had previously competed in four lower levels of competition: Local, Zone, Region, and District. The finalists had either won each individual level, or in some cases were a runner up, and were allowed to progress to the next level. As the state winner, Megan received a $1,500 prize.

The Westborough Lions Club sponsored Megan in her progression through the five levels of competition. In the three years that she has competed in the contest, she won the local competition twice, and advanced as far as the Regional contest two years ago. The Westborough Lions Club is very proud of Megan! She is a tremendous role model for other young, aspiring speakers, and has well represented her town and high school!