Kapolei Middle School teacher Joy Lynch and three of her former students were honored Feb. 5 by state Sen. Mike Gabbard for their part in last year’s USS Arizona Memorial Speech Contest.

Lynch, an eight grade language arts teacher, organized the contest after visiting the Pearl Harbor Memorial and Hiroshima peace memorial.

Flora Cross, now a freshman at Kamehameha, won first place, and Kapolei High freshmen Rebecca Manahan and Tafia Taimalelagi took second and third. The students also received $1,000 scholarships and were the first students in the nation to speak at a USS Arizona Memorial Museum Association event when they delivered their speeches in December at the 65th Pearl Harbor Anniversary Symposium.