Community
21 February, 2025
Students vie for Youth of the Year
THE Lions Club of Camperdown held their annual Youth of the Year contest on Tuesday, with five students from Mercy Regional College and Camperdown College competing this year.
Rose Beasley, Riley Hanks, and Nellie Sadler from Mercy Regional College and Stella Horspole and Jada Mahony from Camperdown College conducted interviews with judges Tony Dupleix, Helen Durant and Jeff Barby earlier in the day prior to the public speaking section of the contest.
Participants then presented their five-minute prepared speeches following answering two impromptu questions - what influence do you think social media has on people’s lives, and which current world leader would you like to meet - what would you like to talk about and why.
The evening public speaking section took place before an audience that included school representatives, contestant’s family members, friends, Lions members and the public.
Chairman of judges Tony Dupleix congratulated all contestants, saying the competition was extremely close and very difficult for the judges.
“The judges stated that they were very impressed by all the contestants at their interviews, with their comprehensive applications, general knowledge and breadth of interests,” he said.
“They were delighted with the amount of work put into and content of the prepared speeches.
“The students performed very well, and their efforts were appreciated by all who attended.”
Jada Mahony was successful in the Public Speaking section of the competition with her speech ‘Belonging comes from being different’, while the overall winner was Riley Hanks and his speech ‘The housing crisis’.
Riley now progresses to the Regional Final which will be held at Colac on Sunday, March 2 where he competes against fellow Club Final winners from other Lions clubs.
The Regional Final winning student progresses to the District Final being held in Hamilton on March 15, with winners then competing at the State Final at Torquay on March 29 then National Final at Traralgon on May 5.
Lions president Dennis Bant extended congratulations to the contestants, and thanked school staff and families for helping to make the contest a success, event coordinator Lion Leanne Delahunty and emcee Lion Colin Hayman for his conduct of the evening.
The judges were also thanked for their generosity in giving their time and expertise to the contest.
Camperdown College senior campus assistant principal Sarah Brooks congratulated Camperdown College students Stella and Jada for their efforts.
“They both delivered heartfelt speeches titled ‘Olympic dreams’ and ‘Belonging comes from being different’, respectively,” she said.
“The way they connected with the audience is to be commended.”
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