Patricia was excited to be invited to judge the first round of Rotary International's YOUTH SPEAKS Competition recently.
Staged at the SandPit Theatre at Sandringham School in St Albans, this competition saw 12 teams from local schools compete for one of the coveted spaces in the next - District - round of this national event (the UK final takes place in Surrey on May 1st 2011).
On the night, the Intermediate teams convinced with their well-structured performances and their emotional arguments on topics ranging from 'Taboos' in modern youth society to overrated and overpaid football stars compared to the real heroes of hardworking emergency services staff. Appropriately entitled 'I need a hero' took first place for Verulam School, with the judges being especially impressed by Speaker Delyan Yanev's ability to field questions concerning his main points in a confident and self-assured manner. His team members were Isaac Keeley (Chair) and Kieran Zielinski (Proposer).
Things hotted up after a brief interval, as the Senior teams took to the stage. Passionate delivery and well carried out research into topics such as 'Penal Reform', 'Prejudice' and 'Free News' impressed the judges and audience alike. Rupert Neaves, Angus Keeley and Fraser Reid of Verulam A presented a moving case for the legalisation of euthanasia ('Whose Life is it anyway?'), which was counteracted by a more humourous review of George W Bush as set in scene in a most entertaining way by Sandringham's Sassoon Moskafian, Jack Wheater and Andy Lazell.
The winning spots, however, went to Verulam and Beaumont. Verulam's B Team, consisting of Andrew Sear-Black, Alex Astley and James Biggs, were awarded with second place for their convincing argumentation against Penal Reform. They were runners up to the deserved winners from Beaumont School - Hugh Ingamells (Chair), Sam Went (Speaker) and John Clough (Proposer) - who delivered a perfect speech entitled 'Elitism in Education'. Their thought-provoking reasoning as to why Public Schools are counter-productive to today's society coupled with their confident yet relaxed presentation style, made it easy work for Patricia and her fellow judges to declare them overall winners of the Senior event.Both Beaumont and Verulam B Senior Teams, as well the Verulam Intermediate Team are through to the next round of the competition, but we would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all participants on their hard work and entertaining entries.
Public speaking is an important life skill, which is why Eureka Schools CIC were only too happy to support this event. As part of our bespoke business and enterprise programmes, which we run for primary and secondary schools as well as for councils, we also give young people the chance to maximise their employment potential by presenting themselves in a positive, self-assured manner - confident speaking is one of the many areas our professional facilitators can offer support and coaching in.
Why not contact us for a no-obligation chat to see what we can do within your school - our workshops range from 1 day taster sessions through to long-term programmes delivered at times to suit you. All our sessions are fun and educational at the same time, and are delivered by facilitators with strong backgrounds in business, enterprise, sales and marketing.
