The Best Of John's Journal From 2020-21/ No. 6: Nothing Stops Owatonna’s Megan Copeland
Posted: Friday, July 9, 2021 - 11:07 PM
We have arrived at the No. 6 story on the countdown of my personal favorite Top 10 John's Journal stories from the 2020-21 school year. This story, which was posted on April 21, is a profile of one of the most inspirational high school students I have ever known.
Here’s how the story began…
Megan Copeland has achieved a big goal this week. The 18-year-old senior at Owatonna High School will compete Friday in the Class AA state speech tournament, capping a four-year speech career with her first trip to state.
She will compete in Extemporaneous Reading, which is a challenging category. The fact that Megan is blind makes her achievement even more remarkable.
She was born totally blind due to septo-optic dysplasia but she has an infectious, can-do attitude and nothing gets in her way.
“She's a rock,” said Owatonna speech coach Marcia Anderson.
In my mind, Megan epitomizes what school activities are all about: opportunity and growth. Listening to her talk about her experiences in speech through the years was very special. Here’s another excerpt…
“Speech was always just a way for me to make friends, and I enjoy public speaking,” she said. “And so it was just a time for me to enjoy myself and be with my friends and to do what I love.”
Click here to read the story: https://www.mshsl.org/about/news/johns-journal/johns-journal-nothing-stops-owatonnas-megan-copeland
