CBA Holds Multicultural Speech Competition
CedarBridge Academy recently held a Multicultural Speech Competition for its students as part of the ongoing multicultural focus taking place during the month of May, with six students taking part in the competition.
A spokesperson said, “Multiculturalism is when diverse communities can come together to be equal. Multiculturalism allows people, regardless of creed, colour, or culture to integrate, share values, and develop tolerance – messages offered by students who competed in the first ever Multicultural Speech Competition at CedarBridge Academy.
“The Multicultural Speech Competition is another aspect of the multicultural events held at CedarBridge Academy during the month of May. In the past, only one day was celebrated, with students and teachers coming to school in multicultural dress from other countries.”
Judith Gill, Multicultural Committee and Social Studies, Kaz Godfrey, Daiquin Arorash, Jai Talbot, Akilah Acka, Germaine Dill, Rhyesheen Suragh, and Zahra Muhammad, Learning Support and Foreign Language
“Students are provided with the cultures that exist in the school and they are instructed on information to ensure that they understand that culture is not just a dress, but a way of life; it can be religion, a type of dress, a way of living, beliefs that are beyond the mainstream.”
“I was delighted with the participation of these students,” said Ms. Judith Gill, Instructional Leader of the Social Studies Department and a member of the Multicultural Committee. “It is difficult to be first, but these students demonstrated the possibilities of even becoming future debaters.”
“Each student was provided with a mentor to help them work on the delivery of their speech. Students had to research the topic and write their own speech, and then the mentor assisted with the delivery. The topic for the novice speakers was, ‘What Multiculturalism Means to Me.’
“The top three placing students were Rhyesheen Suragh, Germaine Dill, and Akilah Acka. The winner will be announced on Multicultural Day, when students and staff are invited to participate in several school events designed to reflect the multiculturalism that exists at CedarBridge Academy.”
Top placing students Rhyesheen Suragh, Germaine Dill, and Akilah Acka
“Students were judged by a mixture of outside judges, students, and members of the CedarBridge Academy staff. The judges included Lovitta Foggo, Shadow Minister of Education, Linda Franks, Director/Underwriting Manager of Reid Street Services Ltd, Maya Palacio, S3 Student, Nathan Rego, S1 Student, Sheryll Ricardo, retired Drama/English Teacher, and Shawn Clarke, D&T Teacher at CedarBridge Academy.”
“I was impressed with the young people who served as judges. They did not present in the competition, but what they did was impressive,” said Linda Franks. “They were able to discern what the issues and strengths were with the speakers and they were able to give valid comments on each. They were meaningful and helpful. They carried themselves extremely well.”
“The speech competition was designed to provide novice and experienced speakers the opportunity to speak in a competitive fashion. All students who participated were novice speakers. Each participant was expected to speak for no less than two minutes and no more than three minutes. There was a time keeper, and points were deducted if speeches were too long or too short. Judges were given a rubric for the competition. Once the competition was over, the judges met to discuss the results.”
Nice!
This is good stuff. Congratulations CedarBridge and students.