LITTLE CURRENT—The Little Current Royal Canadian Legion Branch #117 again hosted the Island public speaking competition for the top speakers from Central Manitoulin Public School (CMPS), Assiginack Public School (APS), Little Current Public School (LCPS), Lakeview School and Manitoulin Secondary School (MSS), and selected four speakers, one from each division, to represent the branch at the Legion zone competition at the end of the month in Onaping.
The primary division speakers included: Eric Wahl from CMPS in first place for his speech on his ‘Family Christmas’; second place, Barrett Charbonneau from LCPS, ‘The History and Growth of Tim Hortons’; third place, Samuel Pennings, APS, with ‘Snapping Turtles’; and an honourable mention went to Mya Debassige from Lakeview School and her speech on ‘My Little Brother Kruze.’
Eric, a seven-year-old Grade 2 CMPS student, was very expressive in his speech and had the audience laughing about his comical family Christmas.
The junior division speakers included: Thomas Green from LCPS, who came in first for his speech on ‘The Only Boy in a Family of Triplets’; Ava Assinewai from CMPS in second place for her speech on Tanzania; Jocelyn Kuntsi from APS in third for her speech on ‘Lies Parents Tell their Children’; and honourable mention went to Katryna Debassige-Bebonang from Lakeview School for her speech on the ‘Sundance Ceremony.’
Thomas, a 10-year-old Grade 5 LCPS student, gave the audience a glimpse of what it was like to be the only boy triplet. He talked about how he grew up with his sisters practicing their makeup skills on him and the differences between he and his sisters.
The intermediate division was won by Darci Debassige from Lakeview School for her speech on ‘Leadership.’ Second place went to Owen Duncanson from CMPS for his speech on ‘The Robot Revolution’ and third place went to Skye Setterington from APS for her speech on Time Travel. Honourable mention went to Jared Cortes from LCPS and his speech on ‘Sea Creatures.’
Darci, a Grade 8 student at Lakeview School, talked about how she and her fellow classmates are leaders at their school. She spoke about what examples of leadership exist for she and her classmates and reflected on current leaders. Darci also touched on what makes a good leader. One of the judges noted how inspired she was by Darci’s speech.
Representing the Little Current Legion for the high school division will be Grade 11 MSS student Sandi Kuntsi. She presented her speech on being bullied at the Little Current Legion competition as the judges were tabulating the scores for the other divisions.
This year’s judges included Wendy Gauthier, Melissa Peters and Expositor reporter Robin Burridge
Eric Wahl, Thomas Green, Darci Debassige and Sandi Kuntsi will go on to the Legion zone public speaking competition on Sunday, February 26 in Onaping. The Gore Bay Legion will be holding its competition this week to select its finalists to attend the zone competition.
