Public Speaking Night 2021

As one of the most popular extra-curricular activities at the College, Public Speaking is proof that the students of Av�԰� Christi are eager to lift their voices and be heard.

On the evening of Wednesday 11 August 44 speakers across all year levels shared the classrooms of Sadler Centre to address their families, friends and the College community with prepared speeches on a range of fascinating topics. These students spent Semester One developing the skills and qualities which allow them to captivate an audience. This event was their opportunity to celebrate their success in an atmosphere of friendly competition.

The Public Speaking Program focuses on appealing to the intellect and emotion of an audience in equal regard. In addition to learning effective persuasive and presentation skills, these students also developed the confidence to raise their voices about topics which matter to them in an articulate manner and on meaningful platforms.

Congratulations to all the winners and runners up from this year’s event. They were recognised by our guest judges as having distinguished talent in captivating an audience with engaging content selection and a polished performance.

This year’s results were as follows:

The now retired (but ever so spritely) English Teacher and Public Speaking Coordinator of 13 Years, Mrs Noreen Stevenson, returned to the College to personally present the Noreen Stevenson Excellence in Public Speaking award to Year 12 student Chelsea Fuderer.

Chelsea has been involved with Public Speaking from 2016 - 2021 and in that time, she has represented the College in countless external competitions with great success. This year, Chelsea also coached Year Seven Students and has successfully inspired a new generation of public speakers. Congratulations to Chelsea for being the recipient of the top honour in Public Speaking.

Year 12 student Chelsea Fuderer receiving the inaugural Noreen Stevenson Excellence in Public Speaking award.

This year’s guest adjudicators were made up of two in house experts, Mock Trials Adjudicator Ms Belinda Hermawan and Head of English, Mrs Manuela Piscetek along with several Av�԰� alumni. The annual return of past Public Speaking students to adjudicate the heats is always a heart-warming touch to the event. I would like to thank Mosaia McDonald, Erin Martin, Daniel Thomas, Wai Sin Wan, Rebekah Craggs, Olivia Fuderer and Emma Shine for finding their way back to Av�԰� and continuing this tradition.

In my separate conversations with all the adjudicators, the talent of our students was always the emphasis. The quality of speakers they witnessed made selecting winners an unenviable task.

The success of the evening would not have been possible without the resourcefulness and enthusiasm of the Year 12 Prefect Team. I’d like to thank these students for chairing the heats, timekeeping, serving supper and attending to our guests so graciously. I appreciate that you are all in your final weeks of school and still took the time to be of service to the College. A special thanks to Head Boy Sanjeev Singh and House Prefect Kim Gamueda for being charismatic Masters of Ceremony and winning the audience over with their endearing banter and personable presence.

The success of our Public Speaking students would not have been possible without the following people and their exceptional dedication to teaching the program through a season of exam marking, retreat planning and the looming uncertainty of lock down:

Mr Raymond Andrew – Senior Coach
Mrs Jo-Anne Palmer – Year 9 Coach
Mrs Leonie Southwell – Year 8 Coach
Leah Nigli – Year 8 Coach
Chelsea Fuderer – Year 7 Coach
Olivia Dellaca – Year 7 Coach
Noreen Stevenson – Impromptu Coach

Finally, thank you to the parents and guardians of the students I had the pleasure of working with this year. You should be very proud of the way your children have prioritised their personal development by taking on the challenge of Public Speaking and making it part of their journey at the College.

Public Speaking will be available again next year in Semester One. I look forward to seeing all the students back again for another exciting year!

Melanie Bird
Public Speaking Coordinator