THE Perch Christian School in East Honiara held its annual speech contest on Friday with impressive speeches from contestants in three categories: Senior, Intermediate and Junior.
The Speech Contest, held at the school, was based on the theme: ‘Developing Confidence. Embracing Our Culture’.
The senior category speeches focussed on the topic, ‘Is Tourism a Gain or Loss?’, Intermediate Category speeches on the topic ‘Our Culture Is Our Identity’, while the speeches in the Junior Category focussed on ‘Who I want to Be When I Grow Up’.
The winners of the Speech Competition were as follows:
Junior Category: 1st place- Hazel Sibia
2nd place- Telena Lilo
3rd place- Beniato Amon
Intermediate Category: 1st place- Raywin Qalopui
2nd place- Champagnant Salo
3rd place- Joana Waihaho
Senior Category: 1st place- Philistus Vaka
2nd place- Brannan Sevala
3rd place- Dobiella Hugho
Speaking at the opening of the event, the School Principal, Serah Iputu said the Speech Contest is one of the school’s important events that used to be carried out substitutable to the Biblio Battle which are held annually.
Mrs Iputu added that this event is part of enhancing students learning by providing a platform for individual students to develop their confidence in communication, public speaking as well as leadership.
Held along with the speech contest was a fundraiser drive, which required all parents to come out and support the school by bringing cooked food for sale. The fundraiser side event is to raise funds to support the school’s ongoing projects – the ECE ablution block and as well as a new building.
Another segment of the speech contest was cultural entertainments from each level of the school. The students presented cultural items from different provinces in the country as part of embracing their culture.
The guest of honor at the event was Solomon Yeo, who highlighted that culture has always been part of the school’s program and it was really good to see it continue.
Mr Yeo recalled a lesson from a university he went to where there was no proper identification of countries on a world map.
“And it comes back to the question, ‘Do we really know about the Pacific Islands? Do we really know about Solomon Islands? Do we really know our cultures?’
“We should develop an interest to learn about our region, our country and our cultures. Because if we do not know about these, how can we go outside and say we are from Solomon Islands? Learning about these is a fundamental aspect of the identity of a Solomon Islander,” Mr Yeo said.
The next event for the school is the Mathematic Day, which will be staged next term.
Two similar events that were staged last semester were Multiplication and Singing contests.
By AGNES MENANOPO
Solomon Star, Honiara
