The Rotary Club of Andover held their annual Youth Speaks competition at Harrow Way on Monday 25th January. The evening started off with the intermediate section, of which three teams entered, one from John Hanson and two from Rookwood. John Hanson was the winning team asking is honesty really the best policy? They explained that it’s ok to tell little white lies to small children in order to protect them. Rookwood team one explored the subjects of ‘Mary, Mary, how contrary: how much do our children know?’ exploring to see if nursery rhymes are a bad influence on children and causing anti-social behaviour. ‘Teenage Turbulence’ was the subject of the other Rookwood team.
The senior section was entered by five teams, three from Harrow Way and two from Rookwood. Harrow Way team two started by looking at ‘Internet Safety’ discussing different types of computer hacking and parents should take more interest in what children are doing on computers. Harrow Way team one look at the ‘loss of childhood’ in modern children due to the pressure they are put under from exams and homework.
The next team to put forward their subject was Rookwood team two. They thought the ‘law should bite the bullet’ as they are too soft on gun and knife crime. Their thoughts were to have metal detectors in schools and disperse gangs. Harrow Way team three followed by investigating ‘temptation and pressure’ and how in sport athletes give into temptation to use enhancing drugs. Also they looked at peer pressure and temptation to cheat in school.
The wining team of the senior section was Rookwood team one, with their subject ‘G.C.S.Easy’. They were disheartened by the government saying GCSEs are getting easier.
Congratulations go to Harrow Way’s Daniel Falcone for winning best senior Speaker.
Winners in Intermediate Section: Team: John Hanson Team one, Chair: Sophie Compton (Rookwood), Speaker: Sam Taylor (John Hanson), Proposer: Kiri Thompson (Rookwood).
Winners in Senior Section: Team: Rookwood Team one, Chair: Jade White (Rookwood), Speaker: Daniel Falcone (Harrow Way), Proposer: Jamie Mulhall (Rookwood).