YEAR 12 English students from Penola High School recently participated in the Lions Youth of the Year public speaking competition.
Held last week, students underwent a three-part process that started with individual interviews.
Students spoke to judges about themselves and answered general knowledge questions.
Participants then presented a five-minute prepared speech to an audience which featured parents, peers and community members.
Lastly, students answered two impromptu questions, given a two-minute response for each.
Organisers said despite being nervous, all students spoke fluently in an engaging and sophisticated manner.
Due to large participation numbers, the class was split into two groups.
The public speaking award and overall winner in the first group was Jesse Martin, whose prepared speech was “Is dyslexia a gift or a burden?”.
In the second group the public speaking award went to James Foggo, with his prepared speech on “What is happiness?”.
The overall winner was Ebonie Moulton who spoke about growing up with expectations.
The two overall winners, Jesse and Ebonie, will move on to the next phase of the competition where they will compete in the regional heats at Kalangadoo tomorrow.
