Soroptimist Sucess For Rainey Endowed

Soroptimist Sucess For Rainey Endowed

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On Thursday 5th November 2015 four pupils from the Rainey took part in the Soroptimist Annual Youth Award Public Speaking Competition – Ballymoney Regional Heat.

 

Nicole Junkin (Lower Sixth,) Roksana Malinowska (Lower Sixth,) Amy Parke (Lower Sixth) and Megan Henson (Form Five) all delivered speeches on their chosen topic in front of the audience and judges.  Nicole, Roksana and Megan all delivered extremely thought-provoking and engaging speeches on the topic, “Striving for perfection-is it healthy?”  Amy’s speech entitled, “E-voting to replace the ballot box-positive or negative?” was again lively and informative.  The judges gave very positive feedback for all four girls and the Rainey girls did themselves and their school proud by speaking so eloquently on the night.

Twenty pupils from five different schools took part in the Ballymoney Heat and the level of performance was incredibly high.  We are absolutely delighted that Amy Parke was chosen as the overall winner of the Ballymoney Heat! Amy will now go on to compete in The Northern Ireland Regional Final which will be held in February 2016 in Hillsborough, County Down.  Megan Henson took second place (another brilliant achievement) and a pupil from St Mary’s Grammar came third.  Roksana got a special mention from the judges along with a pupil from St.Pius as these two girls just missed out on a placing.  Nicole Junkin also put in a strong performance and had the audience laughing at the clever humour and witty comments in her speech.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate all four girls on their fantastic performances.  The girls worked extremely hard in order to prepare for the competition and attended lunch time and after school rehearsals.  All of the hard work paid off!  Finally, best of luck to Amy who will now go on to represent this area at The Northern Ireland Final!

 

 

BPW PUBLIC SPEAKING COMPETITION

 

On Tuesday 10th November 2015 six pupils from the Rainey took part in the BPW Public Speaking Competition For Young People – Ballymena Regional Heat.  For this competition, pupils enter in teams of three and hold a miniature meeting in public.  This year we had two teams entered and each team had a Speaker, a Chairman and an Expresser of Thanks.  Team one consisted of Roksana Malinowska (Lower Sixth) as the Speaker, Erin McIvor (Lower Sixth) as the Chairman and Amy Parke (Lower Sixth) as the Expresser of Thanks.  Megan Henson (Form Five) was the Speaker for team two with Natasha McCready (Form Five) as the Chairman and Jessica Wise (Form Five) as the Expresser of Thanks.

Roksana delivered an emotive and powerful speech entitled, “Cookies v Muffins-is it not just a matter of taste?  (Don’t discriminate!)”  Her speech outlined how hurtful it is when people discriminate against others and whilst the speech had a strong and serious message for us all, it was also humorous in parts (making us all dream of Maryland double chocolate chip cookies) and wholly engaging.  Megan chose to give a speech on the issue of perfection and highlighted how trying to be perfect is an unattainable goal.  Like Roksana’s speech, Megan also achieved a good balance between factual information and humour, remarking that Snow White would be horrified to see women with a tanning mitt in one hand and a bottle of Saint Tropez in the other!  Erin and Natasha both introduced speakers from other schools and posed some excellent questions.  They both did very well in the role of Chairman and took control of the meetings.  Likewise, Amy and Jessica both performed to a high standard in their role of Expresser of Thanks as they both carefully reflected on the speakers’ comments and added a few of their own responses before giving a formal vote of thanks.

Although both Rainey teams performed incredibly well, unfortunately they did not make it through to the next stage.  St Mary’s Grammar School and Coleraine Grammar School were the deserved winners and they will progress to the next stage of the competition.

The level of the competition was extremely high and all of the pupils who took part deserve praise for their sterling efforts.  I would like to take this chance to congratulate Roksana, Erin, Amy, Megan, Natasha and Jessica for performing in such a confident and composed manner and for representing the school so well.  The future of public speaking in the Rainey looks very promising indeed!