13 bright-eyed young students representing upper primary grades 4, 5, and 6 from public and private schools across the entire Eleuthera District, faced off at the Workers House facility in Governor’s Harbour on Wednesday morning, November 13th, 2024 in the Ministry of Education’s Religious Studies Speech Competition.
The creative primary schoolers, sat expectantly as a group, next to the podium area – as their young peers each took a turn to present their prepared speeches to the panel of judges. Tasked with the responsibility of listening to and choosing the top primary presenters on the day was an experienced panel of judges, including Chief Judge, Mrs. Althea Roberts – former South Eleuthera District Superintendent of Education. She was accompanied by Assistant Judge, Mrs. Karen Crean – retired school principal; Third Judge, Mrs. Sybil Forbes; Scorekeeper, Mrs. Brittany Moxey-Edwards; and Time Keeper, Ms. Marissa Thompson.
The young competitors had come together to bid for an opportunity to represent the island of Eleuthera in the National Religious Studies Speech Competition, slated to take place in the nation’s capital on November 22nd, 2024. Following the variety of speeches and judges’ deliberations, three students would be chosen as the overall top presenters on the island, with first place, moving on to compete in New Providence. The thirteen students putting their ‘best foot forward’ on the day, included (as pictured L-R): Kai-La Imlach – Laura Anderson Primary, Branell Wallace – Emily G. Petty Primary, Keyanna Simon – Deep Creek Primary, Cordesha Pierre – Wellington Preparatory, Surdanio Sands – Gregory Town Primary, Sadie Pinder – Samuel Guy Pinder All Age, Ivoree Andrews – Emma E. Cooper Primary, Epiphany Armbrister – Harbour Island All Age, Timothy Morley – Tarpum Bay Primary, Emani Hepburn – P.A. Gibson Primary, Aiden Moxey – James’ Cistern Primary, Keitho Johnson – Rock Sound Primary, and J’Mari Kemp – Wemyss Bight Primary.
The topic taken on by each competitor this year was, “Stand up for what is right”, with students giving their take on a variety of causes to take a stand for or against – including bullying, cheating, fighting, and speaking up for one’s values, among others. While some competitors concentrated on delivering a well-read and intonated speech, some others took it a step further, moving beyond just reading a speech to delivering well memorized presentations – differentiating themselves from the group. Each individual student brought their distinctive presentation style and personality to the fray. To mention a few, the soft-spoken Keitho Johnson of Rock Sound Primary, overcame nerves to complete his speech, and prepared with props, the clear voiced Kai-La Imlach of Laura Anderson articulated her points well. The expressive Cordesha Pierre (2023 District Winner) of Wellington Preparatory, stepped away from the comfort zone of the podium to pull in her audience, while the well-spoken Sadie Pinder from Samuel Guy Pinder, laid out a comprehensive argument for her position on standing up for certain values. Engaging her audience, Keyanna Simon of Deep Creek Primary, presented a strong speech, wowing onlookers with her well memorized and executed presentation.
District Education Officer, Mrs. Fontella Knowles, congratulated the students following the completion of all of the speeches, praising them for their courage. The future for Eleuthera looked bright, she said, while reminding everyone present that winning was not everything, and that each student’s presence on the day was already an achievement.
Judges, who had stepped away for deliberations as Mrs. Knowles spoke, returned soon after – and a hush fell over the audience as they awaited the announcement of the results. Chief judge, Mrs. Althea Roberts, first gave a critique and analysis of the quality of the presentations witnessed that morning. She added comment that it had been a challenging task for the judges because many of the students had made high quality presentations, resulting in small margins between the scores. However, the decision coming from the deliberation of the judges was final. She then announced the winners as: Timothy Morley of Tarpum Bay Primary in third place; Keyanna Simon of Deep Creek Primary in second place; and Eleuthera’s top Religious Studies Speech Competition winner in first place – Sadie Pinder of Samuel Guy Pinder All Age.
