Wasilla woman wins National Job Corps speech contest

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Megan Dauphinee, 23, won the $1,500 top prize in the 2012 National Job Corps Student Oratory Competition at the U.S. Capitol Tuesday morning after finishing in the top three last month.

After the win, the wife and mother of two met with U.S. Sens. Lisa Murkowski and Mark Begich. She also was scheduled to visit the White House Tuesday evening.

Speech competition contestants shared their stories in front of a crowd of about 300 at the Capitol Tuesday.

In her speech, Dauphinee shared her story of losing her mother and sister when she was 14, dropping out of school and at 17, finding out she was pregnant with only an elementary school education.

“I had nothing to offer this child but unconditional love,” she said during her speech at the Alaska Job Corps Center Dec. 13. “How could I teach this child to yearn for excellence?”

Her speech was selected in December to represent Alaska in the 2012 National Job Corps Student Oratory Competition and was named among the top three finalists in the nation last month.

“I don’t believe without these programs I would have sought out college in my future,” said Dauphinee, now 23, married to Brogan, the mother of two children — Aiyana, 6, and Matteo, 2 — and a college student.

But rather than use her past as a stumbling block, she said she prefers to see it as a stepping-stone.

“I use my past as something that drives me,” Dauphinee said.

Thanks to the life lessons she’s learned at Alaska Job Center, she said she knows how to roll with life’s punches.

“Setbacks and delays will always be present,” Dauphinee said. “But so long as I keep my eyes on the prize, I will succeed.”

Sen. Murkowski lauded Dauphinee’s accomplishments in a press release a few hours after her win.

“Today is an important reminder that solid, positive results can come from very dire circumstances — and Megan Dauphinee is proof of that,” Sen. Murkowski said.

National Job Corps Association President LaVera Leonard also offered praise for Dauphinee.

“Megan’s speech was a very courageous and honest reminder of the crucial role Job Corps plays in the lives of more than 60,000 students every year,” she says in a press release. “Because of its unique model, Job Corps works for taxpayers, employers, communities and at-risk youth.”

Job Corps is a program administered by the U.S. Department of Labor and is the largest workforce development program in the country, offering free education and vocational training to at-risk youth ages 16 to 24.

Contact reporter Heather A. Resz at heather.resz@frontiersman.com or 352-2268.