The six finalists in the Lions Club South/LIME Public Speaking Competition are now known.{{more}}

They are Shariel Bowman of the Mountain View Adventist Academy; Kayla Barrett of the St. Vincent Girls’ High School; Utamo Rose of the St. Vincent Grammar School; first time finalist of the George Stephens Sr. Secondary- Ackeisha Strough; Alicia Primus of the J. P Eustace Memorial; and Shiwani Cupid of the North Union Secondary School.

The names were released yesterday, Monday, October 10, by the Lions Club South.

Senior Education Officer for Secondary Schools Carlton Hall registered his Ministry’s satisfaction at the turnout of schools in this years’ preliminaries, as 18 of the 26 Secondary Schools took part in the Zonal Preliminaries, a marked improvement over last year’s figure.

Meanwhile, Chief Judge Theresa Daniel disclosed, “the preliminaries this year were of a very high standard and students were very thorough in their research and presentation throughout. However, there is still room for improvement, especially as it relates to the impromptu category, as students, in the absence of organized structured points often resort to using dialect as part of their presentations.”

The organizers of the competition, the Lions Club South, met with the finalists and their teachers yesterday afternoon to discuss the rules, innovations and other issues related to the Finals.

The Finals are set for the Methodist Church Hall in Kingstown on Thursday, October 20, and students are expected to debate the topic, “The death of compassion is a frightening reality in St. Vincent and the Grenadines”.