President’s College on Wednesday afternoon won the Annual Inter-Secondary School Impromptu Speech Competition finals held at the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry (GBTI) Recreational Centre in Bel Air Park.
President’s College gained 680 points while Mae’s Secondary School notched up 651.
Both teams consisted of three students each – namely Alfa Peters, Deandrea Grenville and Melissa Hector of President’s College and Darryl Roberts, Varsha Panday and Brooke Glasford of Mae’s Secondary. Roberts, the only male finalist was judged the best speaker and he received a trophy from Carol Seeraj, manager of the GBTI Regent Street branch.
The winner’s trophy was presented to President’s College by Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Dr. Frank Anthony while the second place trophy was handed over by Radhakrishna Sharma, Chief Executive Officer of GBTI, to Mae’s Secondary. Individual prizes were presented to all six finalists by Seeraj.
This inaugural event will be staged annually by the GBTI branch on Regent Street.
After the competition, Seeraj in remarks told the gathering of students, teachers, bank employees and others that the participation of the male students in the competition was small in comparison to the female students. She voiced the hope that more male students would participate in the next competition.
Minister Anthony in his short statement recommended 10 commandments of public speaking. Among these were such principles as being brief, showing humility, grabbing the audience’s attention and relaxing before speaking. The bank was congratulated by the minister for the initiative which allowed students to develop impromptu speaking skills by competing against each other.
Competition judge Dr. Joyce Jonas, senior lecturer at the University of Guyana, in her comments noted that the finals featured six very competent young speakers, but she identified a number of areas where improvements can be made. Being a “bit too giggly”, language use and nervousness were elements that marred some speeches, the judge pointed out.
Among the topics that these Fourth Form students spoke on were the advantages of being a woman and a day as the president.
