OC Human Relations’ annual YouthSpeak Speech Contest is a county-wide search for the top human relations speech written by an 8th-12th grade student.  This year, students were asked to submit a short, inspirational speech reflecting on their vision of a #HateFreeOC and what they have done or will do to create a #HateFreeOC.

After reading through a multitude of high-quality entries and listening to the speeches of the short-listed students, the Board of OC Human Relations selected Raj Sawhney, a student at Fairmont Preparatory Academy in Anaheim, as the recipient of the 2017 award.

Raj delivered his speech at Awards 46 on May 4, 2017 and receive a cash scholarship.

1st, Raj Sawhney (Fairmont Preparatory Academy)

Read Raj’s speech.

The two runner’s-up are:

2nd – Sabrina Huang (University High School)

– read Sabrina’s speech

3rd – Carson Taylor (Huntington Beach High School)

– read Carson’s speech

For more information contact Julie Vue at 714.480.6596 or julie@splash.ochumanrelations.org

And, be sure to checkout the speeches from previous years by clicking on the YouthSpeak links on the menu to the left.