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| 2018 CTKG Megan with 2019 CTKG Ella. |
Below is 2018 Connecticut's Kid Governor Megan Kasperowski's Farewell Speech, given at Connecticut's Old State House on January 18th for the inauguration of 2019 CTKG Ella Briggs.
Good morning, thank you all for joining us on this very special day!
I first want to congratulate Ella on being elected as the 2019 Connecticut’s Kid Governor! I am positive that you are going to have a great year and make a huge impact on the students of Connecticut! Also congratulations to the other 6 finalists for going above and beyond on making a difference in their community. They are Eva, Hayden, Jason, Madison, Melody, and Reilly
I also want to welcome and thank Governor Lamont,lieutenant governor bysiewicz, Senator Blumenthal, Congresswoman Hayes, Comptroller Lembo, Justice Eveleigh, Secretary Merrill, Commissioner Wentzell, Senator Needleman who represents both Ella and me, Representative Haines, Representative Hill, treasurer wooden, and Eternity general Tong for taking time out of their busy schedules to come be with us on this exciting morning!
I have had a very successful year as Connecticut’s Kid Governor and am extremely fortunate for this incredible opportunity to serve the students of Connecticut! As part of the first point of my Stronger Than Cancer platform, I created a video of interviews with a childhood cancer survivor, his parents, and a child life specialist. The goal of this video is to help the friends or classmates of a cancer patient know how to act around them and the best ways of supporting a friend after they receive a cancer diagnosis. My video also explains what cancer is and how it affects your body. I am happy to share that my video will be available on the Connecticut’s Kid Governor website in the next few weeks.
The second step of my platform was to hold a fundraiser to hire entertainers to cheer up cancer patients. I created a video about my goals for the fundraiser and then invited schools to hold school-wide hat day fundraisers on Friday, May 18 Anyone who donated $1 or more was able to wear their hat to school in addition to receiving an official Stronger Than Cancer wristband to show their support. We chose a hat day to honor the children that wear hats after losing their hair during cancer treatments. We even had a poster contest in schools all across Connecticut for designs for a Hat Day poster - the top three posters were shared with schools to use to promote Hat Day and to remind students to donate. We raised over $4,300 through this fundraiser, so thank you to everyone who donated!
The final step of my platform was to send entertainers into Connecticut Children’s Medical Center In Hartford and Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. I chose to do this because I believe that laughter is the best medicine for children who are going through such a difficult time. I hope that the comedians, magicians, puppeteers, ventriloquist, and other entertainers will put a smile on the faces of the many children fighting for their lives. Thanks to donations made through the fundraiser, we presented $1,250 to each hospital and the remaining funds will be donated to cancer research here in Connecticut.
Outside of working on my platform, I also had many great opportunities throughout my term such as I was chosen to be the goat against cancer at a yard goats game this summer. I got to throw out the first pitch and had a great time with my family and friends. I also had a library circuit and talked about my platform, at one library I met a little girl who was fighting cancer and has almost beat it. This was such a cool experience to sit down and talk to her about what she was going through and to have her perspective of going through cancer treatment. Also during the summer I fortunately was able to take a trip to washington D.C. with my family and Mr.Cofrancesco I meet many representatives and senators, and got a tour of the capitol this was a very fun and successful trip!
In closing, I would like to thank Mr. C, Ms. Whipple, Mr. Orcutt, Mr. Skaff, Miss Gorski, and all of the other staff and volunteers at the Connecticut Democracy Center for all of their help and support throughout the year. Also thank you to my family, my school, and My fifth grade social studies teacher Mr.Santavenere for all of their support. This will be a year I will never forget! This experience has helped me learn so much about our government, helping others, and how young people can truly make a difference in our world. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We as a community came together and have proven that together we ARE stronger than cancer! Thank you!
I first want to congratulate Ella on being elected as the 2019 Connecticut’s Kid Governor! I am positive that you are going to have a great year and make a huge impact on the students of Connecticut! Also congratulations to the other 6 finalists for going above and beyond on making a difference in their community. They are Eva, Hayden, Jason, Madison, Melody, and Reilly
I also want to welcome and thank Governor Lamont,lieutenant governor bysiewicz, Senator Blumenthal, Congresswoman Hayes, Comptroller Lembo, Justice Eveleigh, Secretary Merrill, Commissioner Wentzell, Senator Needleman who represents both Ella and me, Representative Haines, Representative Hill, treasurer wooden, and Eternity general Tong for taking time out of their busy schedules to come be with us on this exciting morning!
I have had a very successful year as Connecticut’s Kid Governor and am extremely fortunate for this incredible opportunity to serve the students of Connecticut! As part of the first point of my Stronger Than Cancer platform, I created a video of interviews with a childhood cancer survivor, his parents, and a child life specialist. The goal of this video is to help the friends or classmates of a cancer patient know how to act around them and the best ways of supporting a friend after they receive a cancer diagnosis. My video also explains what cancer is and how it affects your body. I am happy to share that my video will be available on the Connecticut’s Kid Governor website in the next few weeks.
The second step of my platform was to hold a fundraiser to hire entertainers to cheer up cancer patients. I created a video about my goals for the fundraiser and then invited schools to hold school-wide hat day fundraisers on Friday, May 18 Anyone who donated $1 or more was able to wear their hat to school in addition to receiving an official Stronger Than Cancer wristband to show their support. We chose a hat day to honor the children that wear hats after losing their hair during cancer treatments. We even had a poster contest in schools all across Connecticut for designs for a Hat Day poster - the top three posters were shared with schools to use to promote Hat Day and to remind students to donate. We raised over $4,300 through this fundraiser, so thank you to everyone who donated!
The final step of my platform was to send entertainers into Connecticut Children’s Medical Center In Hartford and Yale-New Haven Children’s Hospital. I chose to do this because I believe that laughter is the best medicine for children who are going through such a difficult time. I hope that the comedians, magicians, puppeteers, ventriloquist, and other entertainers will put a smile on the faces of the many children fighting for their lives. Thanks to donations made through the fundraiser, we presented $1,250 to each hospital and the remaining funds will be donated to cancer research here in Connecticut.
Outside of working on my platform, I also had many great opportunities throughout my term such as I was chosen to be the goat against cancer at a yard goats game this summer. I got to throw out the first pitch and had a great time with my family and friends. I also had a library circuit and talked about my platform, at one library I met a little girl who was fighting cancer and has almost beat it. This was such a cool experience to sit down and talk to her about what she was going through and to have her perspective of going through cancer treatment. Also during the summer I fortunately was able to take a trip to washington D.C. with my family and Mr.Cofrancesco I meet many representatives and senators, and got a tour of the capitol this was a very fun and successful trip!
In closing, I would like to thank Mr. C, Ms. Whipple, Mr. Orcutt, Mr. Skaff, Miss Gorski, and all of the other staff and volunteers at the Connecticut Democracy Center for all of their help and support throughout the year. Also thank you to my family, my school, and My fifth grade social studies teacher Mr.Santavenere for all of their support. This will be a year I will never forget! This experience has helped me learn so much about our government, helping others, and how young people can truly make a difference in our world. I am so grateful for this opportunity. We as a community came together and have proven that together we ARE stronger than cancer! Thank you!
Watch Inauguration Day 2019 here. Jump to 39:34 to start at Megan's speech.
