Youth Speaks
Youth Speaks
On Thursday 11th February, two courageous teams sat in the Town Hall mentally preparing themselves for their moment in the lime light. It was time for the annual Youth Speaks competition. After a couple for weeks of writing and practising their speeches, they were ready to compete. Team 1, who’s chair person was Lewis, went first. Their speaker, Arthur, had put forward their debate title which was, ‘Graffiti, is it art or vandalism?’ Lewis opened the speech and introduced the other team members. Arthur then took to the stage and spoke on his subject for 4 minutes! Finally, Josh, the Vote of Thanks, took to the stage to summarise the debate. Several teams and minutes later, it was Team 2’s go. Brandon opened the debate as the chair person whilst Nyah, the speaker, passionately put forward her debate on ‘Animal testing’. Their speech was concluded by Merryn their Vote of Thanks. Then came the anxious wait as the judges made their decision. Half an hour later and the results were in. Out of 13 local schools only two could go through and amazingly Team 2 got through! Brandon, Nyah and Merryn would be heading to the second round against schools from Devon and Cornwall! Both teams were ecstatic by the news and even better, Lewis was chosen as the judges favourite chair person.
A week later, on Tuesday 23rd, Brandon, Nyah and Merryn travelled to Tavistock to compete again. There were 13 teams and it was a tough competition. Despite being nervous, the team gave their all and gave confident speeches and answers to a very complicated question from the questioner. After a break, the judges came to their decision and Tavistock Primary School and Lifton Community Primary School were crowned the winners. Although the children didn’t get through the next round, the did incredibly to get this far and it has been great experience. I am very proud of their achievements!
