On the 25th November 2021, the regional public speaking competition was held by Soroptimist Belfast (via Zoom!). Girls in Year 12 and 13 across Northern Ireland were put forward by their school to write and present a speech on a range of socio-political topics.  The ethos behind the competition is to encourage young women to strive to achieve ‘the best for women’ in every sphere of their lives.  

There were 6 local schools participating in the event, and after being successful in our in-house competition within Aquinas, the three students who went forward to represent our school were were Aoibhe Lovell (Year 13), Holly Horwood (Year 12) and Debshikta Das (Year 12). Working closely with Ms Mason, the three students wrote and performed empowering and creative speeches on the socio-political issues such as ‘Rewilding’ and ‘Is it easier to repair broken children than broken adults?’. Congratulations to Debshikta who placed ‘Runner Up’ in the regional competition, and to all three for their amazing achievements!  

“I enjoyed the entire experience, and while the thought of giving a speech was a little stressful, it was incredibly fun to working with everyone and brainstorming ideas for what to say”. 

“I gained so much confidence from the whole experience – I really enjoyed both writing and performing my speech!!