By Callum Ludwig
Eight students from four local primary schools put their minds, writing ability and confidence to the test in the second annual Wandin Rotary Primary Schools Speech Contest.
Held at Wandin Yallock Primary School on Thursday 1 August, students from Wandin Yallock, Wandin North, Coldstream and Woori Yallock Primary School had to present a speech to a judging panel from the Wandin Toastmasters group.
Youth Chair at Wandin Rotary Peter Johnson said they were happy to have the school competing again and they were all very enthusiastic about it.
“It’s great for the kids to get the opportunity to do public speaking, the schools are running sort of in-house school competitions to select two for our competition and then the winner of ours goes on to compete against other Rotary Clubs winners,” he said.
“Wandin Toastmasters were great as well, they’re very well organised and they’re very supportive of the Rotary program for the Primary School Speech Contest, they’ve done quite a few schools for a few Rotary Clubs in the district and the district finals are in October.”
The following students competed, having chosen their respective topics.
Nikita (Coldstream Primary School) – Mysteries of the Deep Sea
Evan (Wandin North Primary School) – If you could have one superpower, what would it be.
Saveria (Wandin Yallock Primary School) – What planet would you visit and why?
Mila (Woori Yallock Primary School) – If I could change the world
Jaylen (Wandin North Primary School) – Mysteries of the Deep Sea
Nate (Coldstream Primary School) – A much needed invention.
Molly (Woori Yallock Primary School) – The best part of living on Earth.
Elias (Wandin Yallock Primary School) – Mysteries of the Deep Sea.
In first place was Molly, who received a $70 bookstore gift card, an individual trophy and will compete in the district finals. Mila and Nate received a $50 and $30 bookstore gift card for finishing second and third respectively.
Mr Johnson said students had a list of 15 topics to choose from.
“The criteria that the Toastmasters looked at is being able to speak without referring to notes, making good eye contact with the people in the audience and confidence and they could speak for up to three and a half minutes so timing their speech is important,” he said.
“It’s a good opportunity for students to participate in public speaking, there are competitions within schools in other areas such as sport, for example, but for students who might not be that way inclined, this is an opportunity to compete in something that they may have a passion for and are interested in, and it’s a good development for future life.”
The judging panel consisted of Judith Talanoa (Chief Judge), Judy Murphy, Nola Sharp and Marlene Sinclair.
All students were presented with a certificate of participation for competing, while the winning school (Woori Yallock Primary School) was also engraved onto the perpetual shield.
Seville Primary School was also invited to compete but was unable to attend.
