Who will make the Finals of Courts OECS competition?

Several students will have to wait patiently until next week to find out if they have been chosen as finalists in the Courts OECS Reading and Speech Competition.{{more}}

The competition, held in conjunction with the Ministry of Education, began on Monday, October 5, 2009, and engages primary schools from across St. Vincent and the Grenadines in Reading and Comprehension.

At the end of the competition, the top nine students will be chosen from the entire group and a winner will be selected to represent St. Vincent and the Grenadines in the regional competition in Dominica.

The seven zones competing include the North and South Leeward Zones, the Kingstown Zone, the Calliaqua Zone, the Mesopotamia Zone, the Georgetown Zone and the Grenadines Zone.

On Tuesday, the students of the Kingstown Zone had their chance to compete. The competition took place at the Peace Memorial Hall.

The seven students representing the schools are Melissa Adams of the Kingstown Preparatory School, Rodera Adams of the Kingstown Anglican School, Lyndsey Dowers of the St. Mary’s Roman Catholic School, Ezron Smith of the Kingstown Government School, Aaron Weekes of the Lodge Village Government School, Tanisha Johnson of the C. W. Prescod Primary School and Shane Codougan of the Windsor Primary School. Each student read two passages: a prepared story and an impromptu passage.

Briefly addressing the audience, Courts Marketing Director Alexis John expressed his delight at his company’s sponsorship of the event and said: “It’s not just a competition, but just another day at school.”

John added that that the competition helps improve literacy in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and that literacy has a direct impact of the development of the country.

The nine finalists will receive individual Scotia Bank savings accounts, while the top five students will receive cash prizes. The winner and the school they represent will receive $2,000 each. The winner will also read a segment on SVGTV News.

The nine finalists will be announced on Monday of next week. The Finals of the competition are scheduled for Friday, October 16, 2009, at the Methodist Church Hall. The preliminaries of the competition will end today, with schools from the Northern and Southern Grenadines competing.