02 August 2024
On the last day of Term 2, the Year 8 cohort took part in the annual Middle Years Public Speaking Competition. In Term 2 pastoral care, Year 8 students learnt about the importance of self-advocacy. Each student presented a speech advocating for a cause or passion of personal concern. Their speeches included a broad range of topics, all related to their current interests, such as global health, Indigenous education, bullying, and humanitarian injustices. Each Mentor class selected a winner to represent their cohort in the competition finals.
Congratulations to each finalist, representing their respective Mentor classes, as outlined below.
- CDH: Austen Spiers
- DBT: William Russo
- JJG: Isaac Downes
- JWF: Nicholas Savvoulidis
- PBS: Raham Khurram
- VAN: Ethan Tran
During the finals, students presented their three-minute prepared speeches and performed an additional two-minute impromptu speech. This year, the impromptu speech topics were allocated randomly and included happiness, friendship, kindness, fairness, connection and compassion. Finalists used the support of their Mentor classes to brainstorm content and responded to their prompt in only 15-minutes.
All students performed fantastic speeches advocating for a range of social causes and change. A particular congratulations to the competition winner, Nicholas Savvoulidis from Mr Freesmith’s class, who presented his prepared speech on the topic of Tuberculosis. Nicholas also presented an impactful impromptu speech advocating the importance of funding to counteract homelessness, in response to the prompt “Happiness”.
Congratulations Nick! It was wonderful to see all Middle Years boys advocate for their passions.
Nia O’Loughlin
Acting Year 8 Coordinator & Coordinator of Public Speaking
