At 4.00pm on Tuesday 27 March, the Covenant participants in the Rostrum Voice of Youth Competition arrived at St Mary’s Cathedral College. Their purpose? To speak for between five and eight minutes on one of eight possible topics. Their arrival was the culmination of hours, days and weeks of preparation and refining which produced accomplished and original speeches on topics as diverse as “A measure of intelligence” and “Now is the hour”, providing a rich base for exploration of both contemporary concerns and age old issues.
The band of speakers found that giving the speeches was easy compared to dealing with the heady cocktail of deadlines, awkward sentences that required editing, and surviving a trip into the city in the company of their teachers.
The standard of competition was fierce and it was interesting to hear other speakers who came from all over the district. The Covenant speakers (Chris Wightley, Marco Setiadi, Dean Jessep, Lauren Bothma, Matthew Walter, James Orban, Cara Petrovski and Ian Wright) competed with vigour, and were appreciative of the opportunity to contribute to such a worthwhile public forum with their peers.
Special congratulations go to Marco Setiadi who was runner up in his heat. The students were accompanied by Mrs Glassock and Mrs Bootes.
Dean Jessep (Year 11)
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