Speak Easy 2017

Speak Easy 2017 

A selection of Middle  and Senior College speech finalists went head to head in the annual ‘Speakeasy’ speech competition last night, along with  speakers from the Boys’ and Girls’ Schools, to showcase their confidence and speaking skills to family and friends in the Goodfellow Centre. 

As the students were encouraged to speak about something they are passionate about, the audience heard a range of engaging, humorous and personal views on cultural heritage and being tired, to deeper issues such as bullying and human trafficking. 

We welcomed back Old Collegian, Mr Jing Seth as this year’s judge. He is currently working for a start-up business, building artificial intelligence. He has represented his university at four international debating tournaments, as well as judging one, and refers to himself as a professional persuader. Judging criteria were based on each student’s ideas, presentation skills, structure and engagement with the audience. Mr Seth made a last-minute decision to change the criteria slightly, as each speaker ‘maxed out’ the scores making it almost impossible to choose a winner. He explained that he chose the winner based on the power of their topic and the power of their persuasion. Asking himself, ‘Did they convince me and did they do it well? Did I come away wanting to do something different, or think differently about the topic?’ Before announcing the winners, Mr Seth commended each student on the quality of work, saying the standard was incredible. 

Year 10 student, Christie Martel won the Middle School section with a ‘spoken word’ poem on ‘A Broken Rose’. The Senior College winner, Year 13 student Braydon Robinson spoke humorously on being ‘passionate’ and to find a passion that you will hold onto, as he does with musical theatre. 

Congratulations to each speaker and our winners, we also offer thanks to Mr Seth for taking the time to judge the competition.

Senior College Winner: 
Braydon Robinson – Be Passionate

Senior College Finalists:
Natalya Trombitas – ‘From Failure to Success’
Selena Chen – ‘Ode to Broken Dreams’
Sam Waldin – ‘Our Oceans are Dying and we are Oblivious’
Braydon Robinson – ‘Be Passionate’

Middle School Winner: 
Christie Martel – A Broken Rose

Middle School Finalists: 
Austin Alcock – ‘One Tick Can Change the World’
Rachel Courtney – ‘You Need to Change’
Christie Martel – ‘A Broken Rose’
Jade Nomani – ‘The World We Live in’
Sam Perkins – ‘The World Below us’
George Beca – ‘Leadership
Wendy Ni – ‘Belonging’
Esther Schubert – ‘The Sculptor’
Ella Shirtcliff – ‘Tired’
Lulu Denholm – ‘Human Trafficking’