Lions Youth of the Year
Marong/ Maiden Gully Lions Club Branch - Youth of the Year Competition (Sunday 23rd February 2020)
Marong’s gracious and historic, Old Shire Hall, was the venue for the Maiden Gully Marong Lions Club competition which featured Flynn Edwards and Tafara Mhindurwa.
The impromptu questions allowed the students plenty of scope to share their ideas and impress the audience with their confidence and poise.
- What are the biggest challenges facing Australia and the world in the next 30 years?
- What does it mean to live a good life? When you look back at age 30 what will you have done to have lived a good life?
Tafara spoke of the impact of our views and values in terms of how we see the world. He argued that our academic life is not the ‘sum of our being’ and our capacity to offer advocacy for all will have a significant impact upon the world in which we live. For his prepared speech, titled “Milk and Honey,” Tafara used his own experience as an immigrant from Zimbabwe as the basis of his discussion articulating his perspective on the role and responsibility of an immigrant, using figurative language such as we needed to leave home because “it [was] like being inside the teeth of a shark.
Flynn was also not fazed by the demands of the Impromptu Speech, speaking passionately of the importance of accepting diversity and looking beyond our comfort zone. For his prepared speech, titled ‘Scars” Flynn used the metaphor of life being like a game of cards to discuss the literal and figurative impact of a motorcycle accident and the role of a spirit of gratitude and positivity in moving forward.
After an enjoyable afternoon tea, the audience were informed that Dooley from Bendigo Senior Secondary College won both the Public Speaking Award and the Lions Youth of the Year Award for the club was presented to Girton’s Tafara Mhindurwa.
Both our students spoke eloquently and impressed the judges during the interview process. Many thanks to Ms Mo Watanabe who attended in support of our students.
Mrs Elizabeth Morgan
Strathfieldsaye Lions Club Youth of the Year Branch Competition
St Francis of the Fields Primary School was the venue for the Strathfieldsaye Lions Club branch of the Lions Youth of the Year Competition on Sunday 23rd February where Girton Grammar was very ably represented by Danai Mahachi and Dinith Tenakoon.
Following a round of interviews with the panel of three judges, each of the competitors then faced the rather daunting challenge of answering two impromptu questions. Within the given time frame of two minutes (timing of which begins upon the utterance of the final word of the question), Danai and Dinith acquitted themselves with poise and precision in the face of what the audience considered, difficult questions:
- The future of transportation is not fossil fuels. What is it?
- Bendigo needs to reduce waste to landfill.
Our two young men had strong knowledge relating to both questions, identifying a range of plausible alternatives to fossil fuels and demonstrated an understanding of the ramifications of landfill and the responsibility of all ‘Bendigonians’ to reduce our waste.
Later in the evening, the audience were treated to three very different prepared speeches. Danai contrasted his childhood in Zimbabwe with that in Australia, speaking of his appreciation of Australia’s national values whilst also articulating the importance of the recognition of the freedom and dignity of the individual. Dinith offered his perspective on the value of conformity and individuality in the promotion of social progress. Dinith drew on his Sri Lankan background, acknowledging cultural differences whilst also celebrating the similarities which exist between human beings. BSSC student, Corey, addressed the issue of ‘The quest for meaning in a sedentary lifestyle.’
At the end of what much have been a very long day, Dinith was named winner of Youth of the year, whilst Corey from Bendigo Senior Secondary College received the Public Speaking Award. Dinith will now compete at the Zone Final on Saturday 29th February in Marong.
Our two Girton students were congratulated by the attending Lions members of this club, for their friendly, inclusive and collegial behaviour over the event, as they chatted in an encouraging and relaxed manner to both Lions personnel and the competitor from the other competing school. We wish to thank them for also representing their school in these very worthy ways.
Mrs Elizabeth Morgan
Bendigo Club Round
After the Lions Club Rounds, we have three competitors in the next round - the District Final, on Sunday afternoon. A terrific result!
Dominic Tune, won Best Speaker and Overall Winner, on Thursday 29th February at the Bendigo Club’s round, and, along with Tafara Mhindwara and Dinith Tennakoon who won their rounds last weekend, will now also compete at the District Final at the Maiden Gully / Marong Club Rooms.
Please also congratulate Zoe Hilson, James Brown, Amy Bachman and Harry Brakha, who also competed - an amazing set of five competitors with wonderful speeches, and displaying such strong commitment, passion and presence over the evening. It was a tough choice in both categories, finally, and all would have been very worthy winners.
District Finals - Maiden Gully / Marong
On Saturday 29th February, we had three of our Year 12s compete at Maiden Gully / Marong, in the District Final of Bendigo Chapter of Lions Youth of the Year - Tafara Mhindurwa, Dinith Tennakoon and Dominic Tune.
This was another set of exceptional performances - what we have come to expect from our cohort of competitors, this year.
The two impromptu topics were: ‘Given that the ‘Forum on Plastics’ is taking place, in Canberra this week, what would you like to see happen, at or as a result of, this event?’ And, ‘If you were Prime Minister for a day, what three things would you do?’
Each of these young men coped amazingly effortlessly with these ‘on-the-hop’ questions (for which they get only around 60 seconds to prepare!). It was inspiring to listen to the intelligence, the breadth and scope of their ideas, their articulacy, and their credible tackling of these two challenging, thought-provoking prompts. What stood out was their mutually-incisive and up-to-date concern for our contemporary world, and their depth of solid knowledge about the current, critical issues. Each of them also managed to fill the two minutes required - a rare achievement. They were, similarly, unfazed by the further challenge of structuring their responses in convincing and erudite ways, and without hesitation. All of this finally presented a considerable challenge to the judges - how to fairly allocate the marks for this component of the evening, so as to be able to separate them?
The second part of the competition was, as always, the ‘Prepared Speeches’. Tafara delivered a speech called ’The Land of Milk and Honey’ - an extremely moving account of leaving of his homeland, and his and his family’s subsequent migration to Australia; seeking freedom from oppression and a better life in Australia. It was a very strong testament to the importance of immigration and our need to positively embrace immigrants, given their committed contribution to Australia. Dinith went on to look at the difficult conundrum of balancing the pressures of conformity against one’s need for independence - a complex discussion that called for a thoughtful juxtaposition of these two concepts, and more than a measure of wisdom.
Dominic, finally, focused on ‘The Importance of Truly Listening’, in a cleverly-constructed speech in which he admitted he needed to humbly include himself in the ‘once I was not a good listener’ category, before he finally got his wake-up call through volunteering at a local hospital. In a revealing set of anecdotes, he explored this personal deficiency in himself through a series of fortuitous experiences, all of which finally enlightened him to the joys of ‘active listening’ - something he now practises, in all areas of his life.
When the judges came back -from what must have been a very difficult deliberation session given the wonderful calibre of all of these young competitors - Dominic Tune was deservedly awarded both Best Speaker AND the ‘Bendigo Combined Clubs District Lions Youth of the Year Award’. He now will compete in the Zone Finals at Carisbrook, on Saturday 28th March.
If anyone is interested in accompanying me to this event, to support Dominic, please get in touch and I will provide further details.
Please also heartily congratulate each of the three young men mentioned in this report. They were such seriously-worthy ambassadors for Girton last Saturday night - as everyone there commented - and all were certainly ‘Winners’!
Alisoun Downing
MiC LYOTY