AN aspiring prime minister and an anti-poaching campaigner are the two Margaret River Senior High School representatives in the Lions Youth of the Year competition.
Year 12s Stephanie Kennaugh and Liam Moore won through the regional finals for the competition and are preparing their speeches for the district finals in Perth on March 24.
The two students will compete against six others, and believe they are the only two entrants from the same school.
For the finals they must each give a five-minute speech in front of 500 people, answer two impromptu questions, and undergo a private interview.
Three of the entrants will be chosen to go to the state final.
Planning to be a politician, Stephanie aims to be the first female Liberal Prime Minister in Australia.
Her speech, titled Lion in the Sand, will be about the children she saw on a trip to Africa. “It’s about how lucky we are compared to them,” she said.
Liam, the only boy in the finals, is a passionate campaigner against poaching wildlife, so his speech will be on that issue.
He was inspired by a 60 Minutes program on International Anti Poaching Foundation founder, Australian Damien Mander.
After leaving school Liam hopes to make the IAPF his career, raising awareness of the need to preserve wildlife around the world.
He was “pretty excited” to get into the speech finals. “I didn’t think I was going to make it,” he said.
Stephanie is sponsored by the Cowaramup Lions Club and Liam by the Margaret River Lions Club, and they both thank the clubs for their support.
