SHALMALI PATIL WINS DeANZA LION’S STUDENT SPEAKER CONTEST

Shalmali Patil, a freshman at Cupertino High School, was awarded first place in the DeAnza Lion’s Club 2014 Student Speaker Contest held on February 11^th, 2014. It was the 77^th Lions Student speaker contest.

Ms. Patil was one of 4 high school students from the Fremont Union High School district who took part in the event held at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. The topic was “Community Service – What Does It Mean & Why Does It Matter.”

The other finalists were Jimmy Zhi from Lynbrook High School, Erik Yang from Homestead High School and Justin Fu from Homestead High School.

By winning Shalmali Patil will continue to the Zone level competition, which is scheduled for March 4^th, 2014. It will also be held at the Jesuit Retreat Center in Los Altos. The winner at each level will advance to the Region, District, Area, and then Final Contest. The Grand Winner will be awarded a $10,000 scholarship.

”Our club is cheering for Shalmali as she moves up in the competition; we think she is a GREAT speaker and has excellent potential,” said event Co-Chair Lion Walt.

We thank the Jesuit Retreat Center, the contestants and their families, the judges as well as all lions and their partners who volunteered at the event. It was a great turnout with close to 30 people.

Contributed by Lion Walt