Three Year 11 students from St Cuthbert’s Catholic High School have had incredible success in the recent Rotary Club Youth Speaks competition, securing first place in the St Helens district heats before progressing to the North West District Final, where they were crowned runners-up on 12 March.

 

The Rotary Club runs the Youth Speaks competition annually, where a team of three students enters to speak about a topic they feel passionate about. Each team member has a different role to perform during the competition whilst also staying within strict time limits, and this is no mean feat.

 

The team has a chairperson, a speaker, and a proposer of the vote of thanks. As well as learning their speeches, the team committed to knowing the scoring criteria so that they could impress the judges in every category.

 

On top of their GCSE studies and just coming out of a mock exam series, the team members, Abbie, Charlie, and Olive, showed incredible commitment to the competition, regularly attending rehearsals.

 

Their topic for the speech was how adolescents are negatively portrayed in the media. One of their main arguments was that positive representations of the youth of today are edited out of mainstream media coverage. The team very much embodied the characteristics to be celebrated in today’s young people: confidence, enthusiasm, and resilience.

 

Charlie, the team’s speaker, said: “Researching the topic helped me learn so much about it and deepen my understanding of the media representation of young people. Taking part in the competition was an enlightening experience, and the whole team really enjoyed the challenge. We are thrilled to have won all our competitions.”

 

After winning the senior category of the St Helens district heat, the team and the St Cuthbert’s school community were elated when they progressed to the North West District Final. On the evening, the students again demonstrated their oracy skills and, against strong competition, were awarded runners-up. Parents and staff members were thrilled to be part of the audience to see their victory.

 

Mrs Larkin, deputy headteacher at St Cuthbert’s, supported the students in their journey to success: “From the moment I started working with this team, I knew there was something unique about their talent. They needed very little direction and were tenacious in their pursuit of excellence. I admire their ability to balance their GCSE studies with the additional pressure of the competition. I was amazed by Charlie’s ability to memorise his speech word for word too!”

 

Headteacher Mr Holland added: “We are extremely proud of Abbie, Charlie and Olivia. The commitment and courage they demonstrated throughout the competition was incredible. They did themselves, their families and our whole school community proud! All of us at St Cuthbert’s are grateful to the Rotary Club for inviting us to participate and look forward to entering teams again in next year’s Youth Speaks competition.”