Public speaking may be a common number one fear for people, but some Abbotsford students demonstrated it is not a fear for them, as they participated in the annual Abbotsford district public speaking finals competition this week (April 22-24). Students from grades 5 through 8 first presented their speech at the classroom level and were then selected to move on to a semi-final event within their own school. From there, each participating school selected one finalist per grade to move on to the district finals.
Top three speakers in each grade level:
Grade 5:
1st Place: Taylor Carlson from Mt. Lehman Elementary (topic: “Fashion”)
2nd Place: Brooklyn Nielsen from Bradner Elementary (topic: “How to Be Lazy”)
3rd Place: Nadine Oliech from South Poplar Traditional Elementary (topic: “Commercials – Why Do We Need Them?”)
Grade 6:
1st Place: Jenna Sangha from M.E.I. (topic: “The One Thing”)
2nd Place: Andy Misra from Clayburn Middle (topic: “Why We Should Have a Three Day Weekend”)
3rd Place: Tavleen Dhindsa from W. A. Fraser Middle (topic: “Broccoli”)
Grade 7:
1st Place: Sarah Hayashida from Chief Dan George Middle (topic: “Fairy Tales”)
2nd Place: Emily Bosak from Abbotsford Traditional Middle (topic: “Beauty Could Change the World”)
3rd Place: Alexis Klassen from Barrowtown Elementary (topic: “Thinking Outside the Box”)
Grade 8:
1st Place: Baneet Braich from Abbotsford Middle School (topic: “Dispose it Right”)
2nd Place: Morgan Rogers from Eugene Reimer Middle (topic: “Generation Y”)
3rd Place: Gabrielle MacGregor from Clayburn Middle (topic: “Girls in Society”)
Family, teachers, friends, and administrators attended the Abbotsford school district finals events held in the Yale Secondary theatre. Judges consisted of school board trustees, administrators, retired administrators, and district helping teachers. The three-day event was hosted by the Abbotsford school district curriculum department.