Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Competition

By James Dixon, Year 11

Over the first weeks of the holiday, Radford College students participated in the Australian Individual Debating and Public Speaking Competition (AIDPSC), which is the premier national competition in Australia.

The competition involved debating, impromptu speaking, persuasive speaking and after-dinner speaking. This was the first year Radford had been involved with the competition and was a great opportunity to expose students to many new types of public speaking and to a wide range of amazing public speakers.

The AIDPSC competition pushed us out of our comfort zone and gave us time to practise the all-important skill of public speaking. So often we overlook the necessity to be able to communicate eloquently, and this competition gave us an opportunity to practise these skills and become more articulate. All four of us felt that we improved over the four days, particularly in the impromptu speeches, a competition that we had little experience in.

We were able to meet people and were extremely grateful for the opportunity to obtain new and valuable life-long skills. We thank Radford College for making the opportunity available to us, and we hope that current Year 9 and 10 students can take the opportunity next year.

Pictured, top, left to right: James Dixon, Roshan Kewalram, Natalie Neshev and Imogen Eynon-Cooke