lThey say making a speech is one of the most stressful experiences a person can undergo.If that is true, students at Clearwater Secondary School did not show much evidence of it during the finals of the school's speechmaking contest held April 25.
The top three or four competitors from each grade took part in the event, with the rest of the students as audience.
The winners were Grade 12, Katie Bieber; Grade 11, Tianna Weninger; Grade 10, Robin Fraser; Grade 9, Megan Sim; and Grade 8, Hanna Wadlegger.
Bieber's speech was about the differences between men and women. Men's brains are organized into boxes, she said, and those boxes never touch one another.Women's brains, on the other hand, are like a big ball of wire, in which everything is connected to everything, and all driven by emotion.“Men's favorite box is the nothing box,” Bieber said, because it allows them to think about nothing, something women are incapable of doing.
Tianna Weninger spoke about the effect of media on one's self image.“I've never met a woman who completely loves the way they are,” she said.She thought the effect of media on young girls was heart-breaking.
Bullying was the topic of Robin Fraser's speech.“Imagine getting punched, picked at, getting texts whether you're at home or at class. Can you imagine that?” she asked.“Can you imagine having everyone hate you? And after a while, you hate yourself,”
Fraser said.Megan Sim said she used to worry about her self-image, because she tended to be bigger and stronger than other girls her age. Now she plays hockey and finds being bigger and stronger isn't such a bad thing after all ... especially in the corners.
Mother Teresa was able to create much good in the world using only love, said Hanna Wadlegger. The Missionaries of Charity now have over 4,000 nuns around the world.“Peace begins with a smile,” Wadlegger said, quoting Mother Teresa.
Other students to take part in the speechmaking finals were: Grade 12, Justeen Lester, Lorina McLeod and Shaianne Richardson; Grade 11, Aiden Sim and Chad Bond; Grade 10, Usman Sharif, Kylia Neufeld and Madisen Dodds; Grade 9, Leevon Levasseur, Robyn Kreke and Jesse Dana; and Grade 8, Zoe Ovenden and Byrnn Rebinsky.