College Sixth Formers Win Local Rotary Youth Speaks Competition

The Princethorpe students, Charlotte Frost, Eloise Keil and Tom Lomas saw off stiff competition from teams of pupils from other local schools in the local round held in Warwick on Wednesday 15 February.

Youth Speaks requires a team of three students to stand up and deliver a speech on a subject of their choice. It provides a great opportunity for young people to develop the ability to speak on a public platform, carry out research and formulate ideas, improve their self-confidence and presentation skills, and work together as a team. The structure of the event makes for an entertaining and diverting session where the students not only have to present clearly, but also spontaneously respond.

The team debated the motion ‘This House believes that Valentine's Day is nothing more than a commercial enterprise.’ Eloise spoke in favour and Tom spoke against while Charlotte acted as Chairman. They were commended for their teamwork as all were equally strong. They received a very warm response from the audience who clearly enjoyed the lighter moments in the debate. They had prepared meticulously so they were able to speak largely from memory and were commended also on their projection and their diction.

The team were helped and supported by Head of English, Chris Kerrigan who commented, “They did extremely well as a result of many hours of dedicated practice in their own time. The organiser said it was one of the strongest teams they had seen. It was a tightly fought competition and they put in an outstanding effort.”

The team thoroughly enjoyed the evening and learned a lot from listening to the other teams who took part. They will now be going on to the next round of the competition in March.