On Thursday 4 May 2023, ten students from year 8, 10 and 11 had the great opportunity to attend the ACC Open Public Speaking and Debating. The day began with Miss O’Shea expertly driving the bus to St. Mary’s College – Presentation campus in Windsor where we were warmly welcomed by their Principal to their campus and heard the importance of public speaking and debating as a skill in everyday life.
The day consisted of two debates among six students to discuss one advised and one secret topic. The debaters did very well and came second in our division, congratulations to Christos Giakoumatos, the debating captain for leading his team very well. Topics discussed were that ‘Schools should not teach history past 70 years’ and ‘That convicted criminals should not be able to publish media about their crimes.’ Students had around twenty minutes to prepare for these debates, and presented themselves very well considering the difficult circumstances presented.
The remaining four students participated in the public speaking part of the event, where two speeches were delivered very well by each student. One of the speeches were prepared and the other students had five minutes to prepare. Topics that were discussed in the prepared speeches ranged from anti-social behaviour to corruption in the Australian politicians, and in the impromptu topics consisted with topics like ‘the best thing since sliced bread’ and ‘luck.’
Overall, the day was extremely fun to be a part of and would like to thank Miss O’Shea very much for her role in planning and being an excellent coordinator for Salesian students on the day and her ongoing role of Public Speaking and Debating Coordinator.
Brodie Grewcock
Public Speaking Captain
