Last night I had the privilege of being at the local heats of the National Rotary Youth Speaks competition. Hosted at Swakeleys School and organised by the Rotary Club of Elthorne Hillingdon in conjunction with the other Rotary Clubs in the borough (Pinner, Ruislip-Northwood and Uxbridge) the competition saw teams compete in Intermediate and Senior classes.
In the Intermediate class the St. Helens School team of Billie Hubble, Isobel McVey and Isobel Moseley presenting “The Teenagers Guide to Health & Safety” fought off competition from teams from Harefield Academy, Swakeleys School and Ruislip High School. Nice to see that thieir views on Health & Safety were exactly in line with mine - the world has gone mad! I particularly enjoyed the tale about having to wear lab coats and goggles in Science to undertake the dangerous experiment of combining salt with water!!
The Senior class had been decimated by illness, but the remaining two teams from St. Helens School and Uxbridge College fought a very close battle with their competing subjects of “Global Warming” and “Slang: Backward or Revolutionary”. Narrow winners were the Uxbridge College Team of Chairperson Muska Nizami, Speaker Ismaila Ngum and Vote of Thanks by Sabyha Khan.
The winning teams go forward to a zone final in Slough in the New Year (and thence potentially to District and National rounds).
Presenting the awards, Mayor of Hillingdon, Councillor Shirley Harper O’Neill praised the poise and delivery of all the competitors, commenting also on the persuasive arguments for their causes – those that were there now know what “Wagwan” means (It’s Jamaican slang derived from “What’s Going On”) and when to use it (anytime you need an alternative to “Hello”). Pictured are (L-R) Uxbridge College Government & Politics Lecturer Julian Thomas with the team - Muska Nizami, Ismaila Ngum and Sabyha Khan. Ismaila was most impressive - it's a long time since I saw an audience greeted with "Good morrow, gentlefolk....." (outside a theatre that is).
Isn't it great to see young people doing something positive for their future?
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