Youth Speaks 2015

Eight teams of students from schools in the Stourbridge area demonstrated their presentation skills in the local heat of Youth Speaks, a competition, sponsored by the Rotary Club of Stourbridge, on 29th January 2015 in the Main Hall at King Edward VI College.

The teams spoke to themes of their own choice to an audience comprising students, their parents and teachers from Haybridge High School, King Edward VI Sixth Form College, Old Swinford Hospital School, Pedmore Technology College and Redhill School and swelled by members of Stourbridge Rotary Club. The judges were from the Rotary Club and Stourbridge Speakers Club.

Each team comprised a chairperson who introduced the team and the topic, a speaker who presented the subject and a proposer of the vote of thanks who brought the team performance to a conclusion.

The winners in the Intermediate category (11-13 years) were Aimee Erb, Skye Warwicker and Georgia Phillips from Redhill School - their topic was Uniformed Generation. In the Senior section, (14-17 years) George Glasby, Manraj Sanghera & Ben Phillips swept to first place on the subject of Young People have Nothing to Live for.

As winners of this heat the two teams will now go forward to the District round of this national competition which is run by Rotary International in Great Britain and Ireland [Rotary GB&I].

Rotary GB&I recognizes that public speaking is an extremely important life skill - one that Rotarians value and of course one of Rotarys objectives is to encourage, support and celebrate the expertise of young people.

President of the Rotary Club of Stourbridge, Arthur Baker, who chaired the panel of judges, said

Rotary is pleased to be able to host competitions for young people and my fellow judges [Shelley Jackson-Woodall and David Wike from Stourbridge Speakers Club] and I were very impressed with their courage in taking to the stage and the high standard of their presentations - they were a credit to their schools, their teachers and their parents. He added In addition to the Youth Speaks initiative, Stourbridge Rotary Club has already sponsored the Young Chef competition late last year, Young Musician early in January and plans are well advanced for the Young Photographer challenge in a month or so.

We now look forward to the possibility of our worthy winners progressing further in the competition.