A few weeks ago our eldest, Dominic, who was once a shy and very self conscious chappy, came strolling in from school and announced that he had put his name down for a public speaking competition. As I mentioned, he has always been very self conscious young man. Worrying about what people thought of him and how he looked, he still is image conscious but he seems to have really come out of himself the past 6 months. We feel that part of this is because of his move to a new school, James Hornsby, us all being generally more settled since moving to Basildon and himself being a lot happier.
Anyhow, I digress.
He was of to his Fathers for the half term holiday and decided that while he was there he would get started on his speech. He chose to talk about joining the Army...... I say he chose, he was persuaded by his Father to talk about joining the Army. If you hadn't already guessed, he is a Soldier and despite Dominic expressing absolutely no interest in joining up himself (He wants to be an IT Technician and has done ever since I can remember)...... his Father has decided that as soon as he is old enough he should apply to join the Army. I might add that Dominic has told him he would rather be an IT guy but he has shown him zero support.
I digress again....you seeing a pattern????
Dominic, with the aid of his Father, wrote his speech. On his return he stood before Dan and myself and practised what he had written. Despite my bias over the subject matter I actually thought it was very good, had obviously worked very hard.
On returning to school all those that had signed up had to put there money where their mouth is and perform their speeches. They were broken down into 3 age ranges, years 7 & 8, years 9 & 10 and years 11 & 6th form. Only one student from each age group would be chosen to enter the competition arranged each and every year for the past 44 years by the Rotary Club. Below is the link to last years competition if your interested. Note James Hornsby won it!!!!!!
http://www.rotary-ribi.org/clubs/page.php?PgID=197746&ClubID=1433
Whilst wondering around Costco with Dan and my SIL Gemma, Dan received a text message from Dominic to say that he had been chosen the represent the school at the competition in the years 9 & 10 age group. I was really impressed and just a little proud :0)
The competition was to be held at the Chichester Hotel in Rawreth as we later found out, despite Dominic telling us it was in Bath?? For a bright kid you have to wonder sometimes. It was to be held on Monday 5th March at 7pm. My Mum took Dominic and myself on the night and after days of practising and with prompt cards in hand Dominic's name was called and he went up to present his speech to the Rotary Club judges and a room full of people. There were the representatives from 8 schools, a few teachers from each school and the parents/siblings/grandparents and friends who had come along to show support. If my nerves were anything to go by I could not imagine how Dominic was feeling. But he was an absolute star. He showed confidence, stood tall and presented his speech better than he had ever done whilst practising. He got a few laughs and people seemed to be interested in what he was saying. I felt so proud of him. Throughout the night we heard many speeches on many topics and I must say all the kids that took part were fantastic. One school seemed to try to turn it into a bit of a show with very extroverted children prancing around and waving their arms, less of a public speech, more of a performance, but they shall remain nameless.
At the end of the evening every child that took part was presented with a certificate and then the winners of each age group received a £25 W H Smith voucher. James Hornsby did not win any awards this year, but they are all desperate to get back next and give it another go. Despite everything, they all enjoyed themselves immensely and gave it the best they had. All the youngsters that took part should be really proud of themselves.
I really enjoyed the whole evening. It was great to see the kids proudly representing their schools but also really encouraging each other. Although it was a competition, they all congratulated each other on great speeches, I even heard some girls, from different schools, out in the hallway encouraging each other and sharing tips to try and beat the nerves.
Teenagers these days get a real bed press I think. Whilst sat there listening it made me think. Teenagers all seemed to be lumped into one trouble making, loud mouthed, selfish and yobbish group by the media. I must admit, I can read the news and sometimes just get mental images of schools being filled with unruly kids all trying to smash windows, throw chairs at teachers and steal their cars. I however watched these teenagers on Monday night and it became absolutely clear that this may go on at some schools, some will have unruly kids, but they are the minority that give the majority a bad name. These kids had volunteered to represent their school at this competition. They stood up in front of all the people in the room and they spoke with passion. They truly believed in everything they were saying. Many of them spoke about worldly issues including child soldiers in third world countries, the complete lack of freedom in Korea and why British women are still not allowed to fight for their country on the front line. Some spoke of interests and hobby's including a young girl who wants to play football for England. Some where what could be considered controversial including why the death penalty should be re-instated, how we are destroying our own planet and why testing on animals is a good thing and have saved thousands of peoples lives. These kids had actually thought about what they wanted to talk about. They are aware of their surroundings, aware of what is going on in the world. They had the innocents to believe that they could change what seemed unfair and biased against individuals that could not defend or stand up for themselves. They have dreams and hopes and aspirations. It really made me realise that yes, their are some arseholes out there, and not just teenagers. Heck, there are even certain people out there who hold a position of responsibility and power and abuse it.
I hope that I can remember this next time I see a group of teenagers out with baggy trousers, hoodies and baseball caps. They are probably not out to cause trouble, they have just s many hopes and dreams as I did when I was a kid. They just need nurturing, given a chance to shine like the kids at the competition were. It may seem corny to you, but the late Whitney Houston once sang about the children being our future. If I am right and these kids really are the majority, then I believe the future has hope.
 |
| Dominic is on the far left hand side. |
