THE recently conducted historical Regional Impromptu Speech Competition resulted in Berbice High School Student Shonte Leacock emerging as winner.She had put emphasis on whether the social media poses dangers to youth and, during her five minutes presentation, the teenager recalled a personal experience of being a victim of cyber bullying, fake profiling and the editing of photographs which have displayed her negatively to those on her network page.
While she pointed to some positives of social networking, she, nevertheless, warned the audience to be careful when releasing personal information on such as Intagram, ooVoo and Yahoo.
The contest attracted nine finalist but only seven representatives from Skedon Line Path Secondary, Skeldon High, Corentyne Comprehensive and Winifred Gardens, all from Corentyne Coast and Berbice High School in New Amsterdam were present.
The contestants were judged on definition, explanation, link to topic, well developed argument, evidence and relevance amongst other areas and a total of 100 points were awarded, with the maximum of 20 each for well developed arguments and verbal skills.
Second place winner Malakia Patterson, of Corentyne Comprehensive High addressed the topic ’Do you think schoolgirls who have had babies should be allowed to return to school after giving birth’ and third place contestant Alicia Cameron, from the same learning institution spoke on ’Domestic Violence is prevalent in our society; what do you think should be done to the perpetrators of domestic violence in our country?’
Meanwhile, the attendees’ favourite Jana Hendriques, a student of Skeldon Line Path Secondary, who, unfortunately, was not placed among the top three winners, recounted how a peer attempted suicide after someone photo shopped his picture and placed it on the social network .
She was, at the time, addressing the topic:’ Your thoughts about the high level of suicide in Berbice’.

Other reasons
Apart from family problems, the student noted that bullyism and incurable diseases are some other reasons why youths opt to kill themselves.
Speaking at the forum, Regional Education Officer, Ms. Volika Jaikisson disclosed that the idea for an impromptu speech contest emerged at a meeting involving the President of the St. Francis Community Developers, Mr. Alex Foster and secondary school teachers, after they had lamented the state of the delivery of speeches amongst their student bodies.
Consequently, the task was handed to the Regional Literacy Officer, Ms. Simone Dainty, who collaborated with Metro Office Supplies to have the company sponsor the event.
Metro Acting Chief Executive Officer, Ms. Avia Lindie pledged her company’s continuous support and advocated for more interactive sessions in the education curriculum.
She warned the organisers that time is money, as she made specific reference to the late start.
The judges for the programme, which was hosted at the St. Francis Community Developers Head Office, Port Mourant, ,Corentyne, were Ms. Enid Etwaroo, Regional Literacy Coordinator and teachers, Ms.Verda Gaggernauth and Mr Neville Bourne.
The rivalry is expected to be annual and involve other regions.