Persuadeathon: Renaissance College takes first place
By Hermione So and Renee Ho
Speech has tremendous power, as demonstrated by Greta Thunberg and Martin Luther King, and history has shown us that anybody can make a speech that changes the world, regardless of who they are or where they come from.
Persuadeathon is an inter-school public speaking competition that aims to give young students a chance to learn and develop their public speaking skills. Comprising students across Years 6-11, the competition was held on Zoom, on December 2nd. Year 6-7 students competed in the junior category, while Year 8-9 students competed in the intermediate category and Year 10-11 students competed in the senior category. Top speakers in each category were also invited to present their speeches again in the Grand Finals.
In the junior and intermediate divisions, Hayley Tsang and Martin Ngai, students from Sha Tin College won as top speakers whereas, Mei Goto, a student from Island School won in the senior division. Tsang spoke about school bullying and how it affects one’s health, Ngai spoke about the harms of the agricultural industry on sustainability and Goto spoke about why the art of romanticising and glamorising things should stop.
The competition had a few requirements, such as the length of one’s speech must be 3.5-6 minutes long and the speech must be written by the participant themselves. Anyone who was caught plagiarising a speech written by someone else, or found to have misdemeanours of any sort such as bullying and harassment would be investigated and potentially disqualified.
The judging criteria consisted of content, style and organisation. The top 20 speakers from all three categories received a certificate certifying their top twenty placement. All participants received a certificate of participation, score sheets and judge feedback.
Hrithik Samtani, a student from Renaissance College, participated in the competition and spoke about child marriage. Being one of the 2nd best speakers in the senior category, he states, “Child marriage is an issue that is disregarded by many around the world. I hope my speech could influence the audience to take action.”
“Trying to meet the criteria that the judges were using to decide scores was one of the struggles I faced,” Samtani added. “Overall, it was a great competition, filled with confidence and wisdom. Everyone in the senior category gave unique and inspiring speeches, from topics such as underage driving to masculinity issues. It was a day filled with ideas, deep thoughts, and of course, persuasion!”
Without the time the organisers invested, Persuadeathon would not have been as successful as it was. Audrey Yip, an organiser, said, “My three friends and I worked together to overcome the judge’s clashing schedules, for College Fun Fair was held the day after the competition,” Yip stated. “The competition was an excellent event for students to have some fun and practise their public speaking skills.”
There were 30 student and teacher judges who watched the competition take place. Birdie Lodders, a teacher judge from Renaissance College, remarked, “The first speech from my group was why we should eat pigs. I found that very ingenious. There were creative and controversial speech topics that were very enjoyable.”
“I really enjoyed working with the other judges. It was a nice opportunity to see students speak from various schools, and work with teachers from other schools as well!” Lodders continued.
Ultimately, Persuadeathon is an amazing opportunity for many to receive constructive feedback on one’s public speaking and to develop essential 21st-century soft skills, and a perfect opportunity for the ESF student community to engage with each other.