‘Youth Speaks’ – The Rotary sponsored public speaking competition for schools, was held on Wednesday 18th March at Matravers School Westbury 6th Form Centre.
The performances of each of the three teams were highly commended by the judges who complimented them on their thorough analysis of the topics chosen by them, and their responses to questions from the audience.
The winners by a narrow margin were the team consisting of Millie Reglar, Millie Gmaj and Amy Reglar who spoke on the need to remove the stigma attached to mental health issues in cinema and television films, the news media and in society generally.
The two other teams spoke on issues with modern day capitalism (team members Yiani Panagiotopoulos, Huw Buckley and Joe Cavalla) and the benefits and disadvantages of the examination system in schools compared with continuous assessment (team members Callun Withers, Thalia Nitz and Annie Smith).
The winning team was presented with the Matravers Youth Speaks Cup donated by Westbury Rotary Club which will be awarded annually.
All competitors were highly commended and were presented with certificates of commendation.
Mr Sam Baggott, drama teacher at Matravers School in his closing remarks, said he would like to see the Westbury Rotary organised competition as an annual event with the winning team going through to a regional competition, and he reported considerably increased interest in the Matravers School Debating Society partly as a result of this Rotary Youth Speaks competition.
The Westbury Rotary Club wishes to acknowledge the considerable efforts of the students and staff of Matravers School and wishes to thank sponsors Haines Watts Chartered Accountants, Trowbridge and Westbury Digital, Headquarters Road, Westbury.
