A team from St. Stanislaus College talked their way to victory in the finals of the Guyana Bank for Trade and Industry Ltd (GBTI) Inter-Secondary School Impromptu Speech Competition on Tuesday, outdoing their counterparts from St. Rose’s High School.
The teams faced off at the GBTI Recreational Centre, at Bel Air Park, with Kendra Warner, Khadija Ba, and Daryll Goodchild representing St. Stanislaus College and Genevieve Daniels, Saaif Panday, and Anastacia James representing St. Rose’s High School.
Each competitor was critiqued on their ability to use time efficiently, their grammatical presentation and the general delivery of their speech. They were each given one minute to devise their presentation upon reading their topics.
Panday delivered a hilarious speech on what he would say if he had won the Mr. Universe Competition, while Goodchild earned the title of Best Speaker with his confident presentation on beauty. It was the second time during the competition that Goodchild was chosen as Best Speaker.
However, Bonita Hunter, the chief judge, said that the presentation by the schools “wasn’t of quality,” explaining that she and the other judges believed that it was a case of nervousness. She stressed that it could have been the result of the inability to role play and she said that the Ministry of Education should put steps in place to cultivate such a skill.
Assistant Chief Education Officer Doodmattie Singh, in a brief presentation, said that “people suffer extreme anxiety when asked to speak impromptu.” Singh added that the competition had allowed the ministry with another opportunity to measure the ability of students.
In addition, GBTI Marketing Assistant Jasmaine Payne stated that the bank was proud to be funding such a venture and that through the competition it expects to “enhance the minds of young people and encourage the skill of public speaking.”
