Artc Inland Rail Support Students In Cwa Public Speaking

Students in Years 3 to 10 from Bathurst, Orange, Cowra, Parkes, Forbes, Con­dobolin, Lake Cargelligo, Cobar, Warren, Narromine, Bourke Tottenham, Cumnock and Trundle gathered at Trundle CWA Hall on Monday 17th June to participate in the CWA Intergroup Public Speaking.

This annual competition highlights the public speaking skills of students in Far Western, Oxley and Central Western CWA Groups. Each Group holds their own com­petition for students within their Group ar­eas. Only four students per section are se­lected to go to the Inter Group competition.

ARTC Inland Rail’s generous support of the CWA Inter Group competition en­courages the participation of hundreds of students across these three CWA groups.

Public speaking skills help students to de­velop their confidence, resilience, relation­ships, independence and interpersonal skills.

The judges for the day were Greg O’Malley, CWA State Vice President, Jan Kerr from Canowindra and CWA State Ex­ecutive representing Oxley Group, Robyn Miller from Forbes.

Judge Jan Kerr commented, “It’s a great skill to have as it can be used in day- to- day life. If you are a captain of a sporting team or school, making a speech at a party or other functions, or even applying for a job, these skills will be invaluable.”

She went on to say, “It’s really pleasing to see the depth and extent of research com­petitors have put into their presentations. It really did make it difficult to select a winner”.

All students were praised by the judges for their in-depth research and thinking on the topics and were very impressed with the skills in presenting themselves and their ideas to the audience.

The winners of each Section were as fol­lows:

• Year 9 and 10: Gabriella Pereira 1st (Red Bend Catholic College Forbes), Bel­la Starr 2nd (St Raphaels Catholic School Cowra), Abbey Browne HC (Forbes High School).

• Year 7 and 8: Joelin Fernando 1st (James Sheahan HS Orange), Grace Mayo 2nd (Parkes Christian School), Abby Rout HC (Red Bend Catholic College Forbes) and Sophia Byrne HC (Red Bend Catholic College Forbes).

• Year 5 and 6: Peter Elias 1st (St Jo­seph’s School Condobolin), Lavinia Cain 2nd (Cobar Public School Cobar), Belle Bardwil HC (St Francis Xavier Lake Cargelligo)• Year 3 and 4: George O’Brien 1st (Cum­nock Public School), Frances Pereira 2nd (St Laurence’s Catholic School Forbes), Maddison Pratton HC (St Augustine’s Catholic School Narromine).

Congratulations to all students who were successful on the day and all who partici­pated from Branch and Group level to In­ter Group. All showed exceptional skill and presence. Robyn Miller stated, “It is really exciting to see that the next generation are so skilled and able to take us into the future”.

Thanks go to all the parents and teacher who took time to support their students by travelling the long distances to get to Trun­dle and for being such a supportive audi­ence. Steve and Ros Edwards also need to be thanked for their time and effort in or­ganising the day, as do the volunteer CWA members who assisted on the day.