Lillian Johnston

Lillian Johnston is a senior speech student at Madill High School. She is the youngest of three siblings and her parents are Jason and Terra Johnston. She has attended Madill schools for the past twelve years.

Over the course of her speech career, she has placed in seven regional qualifying tournaments. She has also placed first for Standard Oratory, Poetry, and Champs Poetry. She said it is a challenge to not feel down when she doesn’t place at a competition.

“My biggest challenge has been trying to not beat myself up when I didn't place at a competition,” Johnston said. “I struggled with pushing myself further and further trying to be better, but the truth is someone will always not like what you do. Perfection does not exist. What matters is that you make progress.”

She said her favorite memory of her time spent in speech was from her freshman year during a tournament when she had taken a dramatic duet.

“Me and my partner landed completely face first, I mean we absolutely sucked,” she said with a laugh. “We froze, forgot all our lines, and what made it worse was we were going against groups of seniors. They knew what they were doing, and we were so intimidated by their talent. A pair of seniors from our school had come to support us, they whole heartedly cheered for us while we were floundering for our lives. This will forever put a smile on my face.”

Her biggest inspiration has been somebody who has pushed her to be her best, she said.

“Mrs. Hartin has been the biggest inspiration to me these past years. She was always there with open ears and wise words,” Johnston said. “I couldn't have wished for a better coach.”

She has some words of wisdom for any of the younger students.

“For the younger class, if you've ever been to a speech tournament, you've heard Mrs. Hartin say this a million times. It does not matter if you come home with a twenty-five-cent medal or not, what matters is that you grow from your experience.”

Johnston wanted to thank her coach for all her assistance.

“To my coach, I want to say thank you for always being there for all of us speech kids. You don't have to do as much as you do, and I never want you to think I'm ungrateful,” Johnston said. “You have been a beacon of hope my whole school career and I want you to know I will never forget about my time here at Madill's Speech program. You've made high school fun. Thank you.”