Olympic: Inter-School Public Speaking-Anse Aux Pins and Mont Fleuri grand winners |11 July 2013

The competition, which was held at the National Theatre at Mont Fleuri, was based on the theme “Empowering Youth Through Olympism” and attracted twelve schools -- six from primary and six from secondary levels.

The students had the task of breaking down the challenges faced in line with the theme and also suggesting potential ways in which to get young people to embrace the ideals and values of Olympism.

 
Facing the judges, some of the participants were noticeably nervous, as to be expected, but that did not deter them from passing their message to those in attendance, among whom was the president of the Seychelles Olympic and Commonwealth Games Association (Socga) Antonio Gopal.

The Anse Aux Pins primary team consisting of Mandy Hardy, Lester Tirant and Jean-François Servina made a clean sweep of trophies in the primary category as they took the overall first placed, while each of their members were awarded individual prizes. Hardy won the best chairperson award, Tirant was the best main speaker and Servina won for the best vote of thanks. Baie Lazare and Beau Vallon primary followed in second and third places respectively.

For the secondary schools, Mont Fleuri managed to come out on top, although Beau Vallon and Praslin were close behind in second and third places respectively. The individual awards this time was shared among some schools as there was a tie for the best chairperson award, with Eloïse Pierre-Louis of Mont Fleuri and Calvin Soubana of Praslin gaining the same number of points. Brigitte Cavé won the best main speaker award while Sarah Purvis of Praslin made the best vote of thanks.

During the competition, Stephanie Duval gave a presentation to the students on the role of Noas and urged the schools to join in through their own Olympic Club at school level. She also reminded the participants to take part in the poem competition Noas is organising under the theme “Olympic Legacy” which is open for several categories.