Winners of Mikva's Project Soapbox Public Speaking Competition Announced!

Mikva Challenge held its 2nd Annual Project Soapbox Citywide Public Speaking Competition yesterday at the Illinois Institute of Technology. Over 120 students qualified to compete in the Citywide Competition, sponsored by Justice Anne Burke. Students talked about issues ranging from gun violence to teen pregnancy to domestic abuse.

At 12:30pm, the names of the 15 students who would be competing in the final round were announced, and about an hour later, the nine judges at the event, which included lawyers, judges, and community leaders, announced the winners of the event:

• 1st Place: Hector Castenada from Brooks College Prep (Religious Tolerance)

• 2nd Place: Diamond Smith from Al Raby High School (Teenage Bullying)

• 3rd Place: Thomas Hoskins from Curie High School (LGBT Rights)

And, the Student Choice Award went to Urban Prep High School Junior, Cedric Hakeem, who spoke about youth violence. 

Project Soapbox was created to give young people the opportunity to voice their solutions and thoughts about the toughest issues in Chicago. Chicago youth rarely get asked to stand up and offer their solutions to our toughest community issues.  Whether a gifted public speaker or not, every student has profound messages to share on many hot button issues we read about in the headlines.

Part of Mikva's Issues to Action program, which is designed to train young people in the skills needed to become change agents in their schools and communities, Project Soapbox, is a way for young people learn one of these skills - public speaking. Over 2000 students participated in the Project Soapbox program this year.

Congratulations to the winners and all who competed in this year's competition! To learn more about this program, please click here.