Conor Noad, Grade 8, St. Bernadette

Superstitions, social network, volcanic eruptions, smart phones and Bobby Orr. They all have something in common? So you know what it is? They are all titles of some of the most interesting public speaking presentations of 2011.

Each year students from Grades 4 to 8 research a topic to present to their classmates and teachers. Approximately 5,000 students start out at the classroom level and then, depending on their overall skills in terms of language and presentation, are chosen to move on to school, regional and eventually, city-wide competition. The sponsors of this public speaking event are the Hamilton-Wentworth Catholic District School Board=s Trustees and the local unit of the Ontario English Catholic Teachers’ Association.

This year, I was privileged to have had the opportunity to follow this path with my topic which challenged the listener to agree or disagree with my claim to have determined the answer to the following question: AWHO is the greatest hockey player of all time?@ With each level of competition, the speeches became more and more developed and the presentations increasingly sophisticated. Although I was comfortable with my abilities and the content of my speech, I could not help but question how I might finish compared to my peers especially at the city level hosted at Bishop Ryan High School. 

As it turned out, I was honoured to receive a AGold Award@ which represents the highest level of achievement. It was an amazing end to a challenging journey.

Oh, and by the way, the greatest hockey player of all time is … Bobby Orr!