The Mehlville Optimist Club treated a trio of top students from the Mehlville School District to breakfast one recent morning.

While there, the students also were presented with awards and showered with praise for being selected as winners in the Optimist Club’s essay and oratory contests, according to a district press release.

Oakville Middle School eighth-grader Lauren Taylor received a Gold Medal for being selected as the first-place winner in the Optimist Club’s oratory contest. She thrilled the club’s members by reciting her award-winning speech for them.

Taylor crafted her speech around the subject, “Thinking, Working and Expecting the Best,” according to the release.

The Optimist Club also honored a pair of Mehlville High seniors for their outstanding writing skills.

Club President Bob Thill presented Jessica Hammerstone with a first-place medal and a $100 savings bond and Monica Wallace with a second-place medal and a $50 savings bond.

Wallace and Hammerstone each wrote a 500-word essay on the topic, “Being the Best I Can Be.”

As first-place winners, Taylor and Hammerstone now will represent the Mehlville Optimist Club in zone, district and regional Optimist International competitions.