Exceptional Public Speakers at Macleans College

Macleans Junior Speech Competition

Year 9 and 10 students had their speech unit interrupted by the second lockdown in Term 3 which made delivery in class impossible.  Instead, they delivered their presentations to video and submitted them for assessment online.  The Year 9 task involved exploring a New Zealand theme, while the Year 10s argued persuasively on a topic of their choosing.  A panel of English teachers narrowed down the sixteen class winners to the following talented orators:

Year 9

1st Rachel Gilmour (Snell House)
2nd Mabel Zhang (Te Kanawa)
3rd Hermione Meyrick (Kupe)

Year 10

1st Bianca Lim (Snell)
2nd Anna Sandhu (Hillary)
3rd Lucy Barrow-Burns (Mansfield)

Eastern Zone Speech Competition

Annually contested by the top Year 9, 10 and 11 speakers from neighbouring schools - Sancta Maria College, Howick College, Pakuranga College, Botany Downs Secondary College and Mission Heights Junior College – the Eastern Zones were held in Upham House Commons on Tuesday evening of Week 3.

Macleans College was represented by:

• Mabel Zhang (Year 9) who spoke about the importance of colour in our lives.
• Bianca Lim (Year 10) who argued that artificial intelligence will never replace ‘flesh and blood’ teaching.
• Stephanie Chong (Year 11 Upham) with an exploration of race and identity from a personal perspective.

As always, the standard of public speaking was very high so to place, let alone win, is a very fine achievement.  But that is exactly what Stephanie Chong managed, in winning the Year 11 title, while Bianca managed a very creditable second among the Year 10s.