Northwest students offer oratory feast

In May, audiences at West Humber CI were treated to a feast of critical thinking, persuasive language, student voice and humour.   Elementary students demonstrated outstanding oratory skills in the annual NW1 2012 Speech Arts Competition. 

Listeners dined on heartfelt topics such as “My Family” and “Saving the Bugs” from Primary students.  The fare from Junior and Intermediate students included “How we can defeat world hunger,”  “How Automation is creating unemployment,” and  “Disney’s  influence on Body Image.”  As Alaysia, a Grade 6 student at Smithfield Middle School said; “I really learned a lot from all of these speeches.  Everyone needs to know what great speakers and thinkers we are!”
 
This is the fourth time NW1 has held a Speech Arts event and each year the students never fail to impress. “It is very important that our young people are given the opportunity to stand up and defend what they believe in,”  said Trustee John Hastings.
 
All speeches were rated by a panel of volunteer judges from the community.  Students delivered their speeches and responded to one question from the judges. In the primary division, Crystal from North Kipling JMS took top honours for her piece titled “Bullying is Everyone’s Business.”
In the junior division, “Mythical Creatures” by Naomi from The Elms JMS won first prize. And for the intermediate division, The Elms' Nisha took top spot with  “Pros and Cons of Cell Phones in Schools.”
 
“In our Family of Schools we’ve been talking about social justice issues and giving students a voice to follow their interests and passions," said Superintendent Annie Appleby. "This event teaches our students how to use their voices to make a difference in the world.”
 
The success of the event would not have been possible without the dedicated efforts of parents and teachers who helped each of these students polish their speeches for final delivery. One might say the speeches provided all listeners with much “food for thought.”