Pacifica High School Student Delivers Winning Speech in Washington D.C.

• Friday, February 3, 2017
• Pacifica High

Pacifica High School senior Megan McCall’s inspiring speech, which encourages students to self-advocate for academic financial aid, was selected among the winning speeches as part of the American Soapbox Initiative. She was selected to represent Orange County at the Mikva Youth Summit in Washington, D.C. along with other soapbox speech winners from across the country.

Megan was awarded with an all-expenses paid trip to Washington, D.C., which she took in January during Martin Luther King Jr. weekend. She toured the Capitol, delivered her speech in front of fellow winners at Lafayette Square across from the White House, and participated in a Youth Summit and Leadership Cafe at AFL-CIO discussing community issues and concerns with local community advocates and activists.

“We are so proud of Megan for this exciting accomplishment,” said Lan Nguyen, Garden Grove Unified School District Board of Education President. “It is inspiring to see our students transform into the next generation of leaders who will make a difference in their communities.”

In her after-school civics club, Megan researched how studen6ts can self-advocate for more academic aid, wrote, revised and eventually performed her speech in front of her fellow students.

The trip was organized by Action Civics LA, an initiative of Mikva Challenge and Project Soapbox is a public speaking competition that calls young people to speak out on issues that affect them and their communities. These powerful speeches have lasting, transformative impacts on classrooms, schools, and communities.

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