This is the 3rd time in the last 9 years that a Montrose student has won the prestigious statewide competition which concluded its 41st year.

 

In the picture, Sanya Nadeem is congratulated after winning the Massachusetts Lions Youth Speech Competition by (left to right) lions District Governor Ivette Mesmar, Lions past International Director Joyce Middleton, and Medfield Lions Youth Speech Chair Steve Small.

 

Sanya Nadeem, a Walpole resident and a sophomore at the Montrose School in Medfield, emerged victorious at the State Finals of the 2023-2024 Massachusetts Lions Youth Speech Contest held on April 20th in Falmouth. 

 

The competition started last November when more than 500 high school students all over the state entered the competition. Each student was required to write a speech lasting between 5 and 8 minutes answering the question, “With Which Historical Figure Would You Most Like to Speak?”

 

Steve Small, Chairman of the Youth Speech Contest for the Medfield Lions, worked with the Speech and Debate coaches at both the Montrose School and Medfield High School to give their students the opportunity to enter.

 

Lions Clubs all over the state held the first round of competition in December. Ms. Nadeem won the Medfield Lions Club competition and quickly moved through a second level of competition in January. Sanya then won the Greater Boston area competition during February school vacation week. That victory meant she would represent the 49 Lions and Leos Clubs in the Greater Boston area as one of the five State Finalists.

 

The competition gets harder at each new level, not only because all the speakers have already won previous competitions, but also because the rules change slightly. For example, in the early rounds, the speakers are allowed to read their speech from a manuscript; by the State Finals, the speakers are allowed to use only one 3x5 index card when delivering their speech. Speeches were judged on the cohesiveness of the text, the impact of the message, and the delivery.

 

Ms. Nadeem chose Ida B. Wells as the historical figure she most wanted to speak with. As Sanya’s speech outlines, Ms. Wells was born into slavery in the 1860’s. In 1884 she was refused a seat in the segregated train car for white people which she tried to enter when a black man was illegally smoking in the “colored” car. She sued and won, the first successful court case against discrimination and segregation. Ms. Wells later published an influential book publicizing lynchings, led one of the first anti-lynching movements in the United States, and founded the first Black women’s suffrage group. Sanya’s speech went on to describe how she was inspired by Ida B. Wells’ story to try to make a difference for her gender and race. Sanya started tutoring neighborhood kids online during the pandemic and has raised enough money over four years to fund a year’s education for 540 underprivileged girls in India, where her parents were born.

 

This is not Ms. Nadeem's first experience as a state champion. In 2021 she was champion in the state spelling bee, representing Massachusetts in the Scripps National Spelling Bee Finals. Sanya is passionate about politics and wants to major in political science and law in college.

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Further information can be obtained from the state website.