Jefferson eighth-grader Meliton Chaidez won the Dist. 129 Middle School Speech Contest recently at Greenman School.
The speech topic this year was "a time a volunteer made a difference," and Chaidez spoke about Clayton Muhammad.
The second-place winner, Jewel sixth-grader Ameea Moore, spoke about Girl Scouts. The third-place winner, Jewel seventh-grader Jacob Riggs, spoke about the 54th Massachusetts Regiment.
Chaidez and Moore will represent the district in the state competition on May 19 in Rock Island.
Other contestants were Katie Hogan and Daniela Garcia from Herget, Fabian Guerrero from Jefferson and Dan Keller and Katrina Kuhn of Washington.
Julie Esparza, the district Gifted and Talented Program coordinator, administered the contest.
The district’s elementary-level speech contest will be held at 6 p.m., May 2 at Greenman School.
