Four contestants present speeches on women in leadership to 50 people
Published in the Jan. 22, 2014 issue of Morgan Hill Life
By Staff Report
Photo by Marty Cheek
From left, Divya Gopisetty, Robin Fox, Angie Rodriguez and Nina Singh after the AAUW Speech Trek Jan. 15 at Villa Mira Monte. Gopisetty took home the first-place prize of $200. This was the first time the Morgan Hill branch of the American Association of University Women held the contest.
Divya Gopisetty loves public speaking so much that when she started high school at Oakwood School, she formed a speech and debate team. That experience paid off by helping her win $200 as the first-place winner in Morgan Hill’s American Association of University Women’s inaugural Speech Tech contest Jan. 15.
The contest’s speech theme was “Women at the Top – Why Not?” Open to all students in Morgan Hill schools, four contestants from local high school participated, speaking to an audience of about 50 people in the Morgan Hill House at Villa Mira Monte. xThe other contestants were Nina Singh from Oakwood School, Robin Fox from Flex Academy, and Angie Rodriguez from Live Oak High School.
The second-place winner, Singh took home $100. Coming in third, Rodriguez won $50.
When she graduates high school this year and goes to college, Gopisetty wants to study global health and regenerative stem cell research. She would like to see more women in positions of leadership in many career fields, closing the large gap in comparison with the number of men in positions of power.
“The reasons women aren’t treated equally right now comes from a multitude of reasons — from discrimination to just a lack of initiative because of societal pressures,” she said. “And I think if we get rid of two things, the discrimination in our country and that subtle injustice that a lot of people are not aware about, if we get rid of that, I think that women have a clear path to the top as it should be. Women are equally as capable as men.”
Margaret McCann, the chair of the speech contest, said this was the first time the Morgan Hill AAUW has put on the speech contest, which is an annual state-wide contest to encourage young women to be leaders.
A DVD of Gopisetty presenting her speech will be sent to jurors judging at the state-level AAUW contest. They will watch the Oakwood student and other contest champions from throughout the state to determine the five contestants who will compete at the AAUW contest this spring.
The first place prize for that level is $1,500.
McCann was impressed by the Morgan Hill students who presented their contest speeches.
“I was blown away. They were absolutely incredible,” she said. “They had poise and confidence. The young women were outstanding. I’m very pleased.”
