On Saturday night 24th June, Freya Wirper represented Naracoorte High School as a state finalist for the Rostrum Voice of Youth Public Speaking Competition, held at Parliament House in Adelaide. The State Finals see the top four juniors and the top four seniors from SA/NT compete against each other.

For this stage of the competition, Freya had to prepare and present a new eight minute speech. Freya chose the topic “Let the past not rule us”, discussing both past and present genocides that have impacted our world. For her short notice speech, she chose the topic “Luck of the draw” and highlighted some of her personal health struggles. Both of these speeches contained informative content, were well structured and were presented passionately by Freya.

Freya had a wonderful support crew with her on the night consisting of her parents, brother and a friend, as well as Gemma Borg, Lynette Corletto and myself. While Freya did not win, we were all so proud of her efforts. There were 170 entrants from SA/NT in the Rostrum Voice of Youth Competition this year, so making it to the final eight is a huge achievement in itself. Freya thoroughly enjoyed the experience and is already thinking about speech ideas for next year’s competition! Well done Freya!

BEL BEGGS
Rostrum Co-Ordinator