Record entries at Youth Speaks (From Andover Advertiser)

Record entries at Youth Speaks

11:13am Friday 28th January 2011 in News By Joe Scicluna

A RECORD number of teams entered the annual Youth Speaks competition, following hard on the heels of the national success of a John Hanson team last year.

The standard was as high as ever, with intermediate and senior teams from Test Valley, Winton, Harrow Way, Rookwood and John Hanson schools competing to go through to the next round of the public speaking competition organised by the Rotary Club.

The presentations produced some thought-provoking and entertaining subjects to be aired in the auditorium of Harrow Way Community School and proved to be well researched and presented with enthusiasm and conviction.

This year’s event attracted more entries than could be coped with and was finally pruned to nine teams overall, with five in the intermediate section and four in the seniors.

Subjects ranged from Censorship, Still smoking, Sound of Silence and Crazy little thing called love to Teenage contraception, the Pick and Mix generation and Can you be an individual when you are forced to conform to a standard.

While all the main speakers did their teams proud, it was Josh Wheeler of John Hanson Intermediate team who captivated the audience with his natural, easy and confident delivery.

Without referring to notes he used humour to good effect as he built a strong rapport with the listeners while investigating Who really wears the trousers in families today. His conclusion that it was the youngest child, until the arrival of a puppy brought the presentations to a glowing climax.

In the senior section Harrow Way piled up the points as their speaker, Daniel Falcone, delved into the traumas of facing exams in today’s world.

He scotched the idea that teenagers ‘don’t know they’ve been born’ and highlighted the pressure that builds up as teen years progress, and skillfully combined a mixture of humour and sharp observations.

The adjudicators consisted of Test Valley Mayor Cllr Chris Lynn, Mrs Vera Hughes FRSA, BA with Andover Advertiser editor Joe Scicluna chairing the panel.

RESULTS

Intermediate Section: Team – John Hanson Best speaker – Josh Wheeler, John Hanson Best chairperson – Cassie Rist, Rookwood Best proposer – Annie Smith, John Hanson

Senior Section:

Team – Harrow Way Best speaker – Daniel Falcone, Harrow Way Best chairperson – Eloise Yard, Test Valley Best proposer – Alice Longshaw, Harrow Way

Timekeeper was John Ray and MC was John Cooper.