By JESSE GRAHAM
WOORI Yallock students talked their way to victory, scoring two out of three top prizes at last week’s Primary Schools’ Speech Contest in Healesville.
The contest was held at Healesville High School on Wednesday 6 August, where nine students from schools around the Yarra Valley faced off in friendly competition.
Each student made a three-minute speech on a range of topics, and were marked by Toastmasters representatives on their overall performance.
Rotary Club of Healesville put on the evening, which is the second annual speech contest for the area, and the first to include Woori Yallock Primary School.
Woori Yallock’s Jaymi Ingram and Stephanie Maguire took out first and third prize in the contest, while Badger Creek Primary School’s Aiden Ratcliff received a second place medal.
Jaymi was awarded first place for her stirring speech on living vicariously and happily, which began with the prompt “it’s always the right time to … ”
“The world was not made for you to just sit around inside and do nothing!” she began.
“It was made for you to have fun and enjoy every single moment you have of daylight.”
Aiden’s speech was all about his favourite creature – the spider – and he tried to convince the crowd to come around to the much-feared arachnid.
“OMG – did you know that there are more than 30,000 different kinds of spiders in the world?” he said.
“I know you think that’s a bad thing, but I’m here to try and convince you that it’s not.”
Stephanie Maguire’s speech hit a hard note, and she referenced Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech, when she said if she could change the world, she would eliminate racism.
“What is anti-racism? It means treating everyone fairly, not making racist jokes, respecting people and being friendly to each other, regardless of where they come from or what they look like,” she said.
“We were born to trust and accept each other – we were not born with particular attitudes.”
The three winners received medals for their efforts, while Woori Yallock Primary School will have its name marked on a perpetual trophy under last year’s winner, Badger Creek Primary School.
St Brigid’s Primary Schools’ Niamh Gilligan, Dixons Creek’s Tom Calder and Mia Kusnezow, Healesville’s Madison Cuthbertson and Ruby Langford, Badger Creek’s Aiden Ratcliff and Kira Hetherton and Woori Yallock’s Stephanie Maguire and Jaymi Ingram all took part in the competition.
Master of Ceremonies, Marlene Sinclair, thanked all of the students for their speeches, and congratulated them on their public speaking skills.
