College Year 7 Speech Competition

Tasked with creating persuasive content for this year’s speech competition, our Year 7 students called on logical reasoning, factual evidence, examples and quotes from experts to convince their audience that their point of view was one worth listening to. Delivering their speeches first in class, a select few were shortlisted for further opportunities to speak before the eight finalists were selected

The three winning speeches were all on subjects that resonated with their peers. Eventual winner, Sam Everitt was most convincing that ‘gaming’ should be considered as a topic for study at secondary school and as a means of learning. As he pointed out, have you ever seen a gamer ‘lose focus?’ Gaming could prove to be a way to teach students effectively without them ever losing the concentration and motivation to ‘play and learn.’

Second placed, Ava McKenzie put forward an argument that social media should be banned. She argued that the amount of time that today’s teens give to social media is verging on obsession and is time that could be better spent elsewhere. She also cited cases of the impact on self-esteem and the ability to think independently when constantly bombarded by messages.

In third place, Danielle Mayer also saw a reason to ‘ban.’ This time infomercials came under the spotlight for their dramatic and unrealistic promises.

Well done to all the finalists and to Sam, Ava and Danielle in particular.

1st Place: Sam Everitt - Why gaming should be a topic we do at high school.

2nd Place: Ava McKenzie - Why social media should be banned

3rd Place: Danielle Mayer - Why infomercials should be banned

Finalists: Emma Jorgensen, Mia Harries, Harry Lowe, Xanfira Ghoulder-Chisholm, Sophia Hynds