LIME Lions South Schools’ Public Speaking Competition begins

LIME, this country’s leading telecommunications full service provider, has teamed up with the Ministry of Education and the Lions Club South for another year as sponsors of the Secondary Schools’ Public Speaking competition.{{more}} This year marks twenty-two years of sponsorship from LIME/Cable & Wireless of this prestigious event and the first year under the new brand, LIME. Cable and Wireless sponsored the original public speaking competition during the period 1978 to 1995, when the Jaycees were organizers of the event.

Delivering remarks at the opening ceremony at the Peace Memorial Hall on Tuesday, September 28, Head of Marketing and Corporate Communications Fitzgerald Huggins, restated LIME’s commitment to educational development and in particular to the long term sponsorship of Schools’ Public Speaking.

“Schools’ Public Speaking competition has become an important event on OUR calendar. We recognize the significant role this event plays in preparing our students to embrace the challenges of the future. We continue to invest heavily in education and the youth through our sponsorship of Internet Summer School, CXC/CSEC awards, Schools’ Drama festival, and offering four scholarships every year. Over the last twenty two years we have spent over $450,000 in sponsoring this event. We recognize that these students need Internet access to do their research, and we are doing our part to equip them with the necessary tools to do so. We are presently launching the Next Generation Network that will give universal internet access to every LIME fixed line customer. We are preparing the tools that are required to take the next generation on their journey on the Information Highway,” Huggins said.

Lions Club South representative Ron Christopher complimented LIME for staying the course even in these tough economic times and commented “the topics for this year’s debate are current and speak to the issues that affect us today. LIME has raised the stakes and each finalist will be well rewarded. I am urging all students to do their research thoroughly since each finalist stands to win a laptop compliments LIME.”

Twenty-four secondary schools, divided into four zones, will compete in four preliminary rounds for six final places. In the preliminary rounds the schools will debate topics about the referendum, freedom of speech in SVG, Trinidad and Tobago as the Caribbean’s ATM and the alliance between drug lords and politicians. The finals will take place on October 21st at the Methodist Church Hall.