Macy Baptiste of the Sandy Bay Secondary School last Wednesday March 13, 2024, topped both the impromptu and main speech categories of the Adelphi Secondary School’s public speaking championship.

The topic for the main speech was “Paramount Chief Joseph Chatoyer is St Vincent and the Grenadines’ first and only National Hero, using a criterion, who should be our next National Hero and why?”

Baptiste questioned why all National Heroes should be male, and/or a political figure, as a response to Prime Minister, Ralph Gonsalves’ announcement in 2020 about prospective national heroes where names submitted were primarily past political figures of SVG.

The secondary school student suggested Sarah Agatha Baptiste of Sandy Bay, who was the first Garifuna nurse in the country and was known to be ‘the one who mothered the village’.

Baptiste pointed out that mother Sarah Baptiste meets the criteria of a national hero, having courage, resilience, and selflessness, characteristics that are often associated with Vincentians.

In the impromptu speech category, Baptiste chose the topic of ‘van culture’.

“We can see that the speeding and how it affects the old people, and how much the young people, unfortunately, loves it”

Baptiste who argued that at times the loud music “is good for having a good time”, also pointed out that it may be a nuisance to someone who may want to travel without any distractions.

“The van culture in St Vincent and the Grenadines has been looked upon by a lot of school children especially on Fridays when they are trying to have a good time,” but felt that is not worth risking a life for.

Placing second in the competition was Dilesia Texeira of the Emmanuel High School, whose impromptu topic was ‘Social media’, where she brought to light the rate at which students are constantly distracted in schools, especially being on TikTok instead of focusing on school work.

“You might be in your classroom and say, I’m going to make a TikTok, even though you know you may have work to do.”

Ebony Nanton from the St Clair Dacon Secondary School copped the third place. She spoke about ‘School rules’ for her impromptu topic, where she shared a few of the rules in her school and their importance, outlining why these rules exist in that school.

“Our skirts must be below our knees because over at my school, it’s windy so when plenty breeze blow, obviously your skirt will blow up and we don’t want that because we do not want to feel embarrassed.”

Nicholas Clarke of the Adelphi Secondary School, that hosted the competition, seemed nervous in his main speech as he spoke about the Prime Minister being the country’s next national hero. However for his impromptu speech on the topic ‘Easter’ he seemed more relaxed as he spoke of how he spends Easter and what is done at his school for Easter celebrations.

All students received certificates for their participation in the competition, while the top three also received cash prizes. The participant from the winning school received the Adelphi Secondary School’s National Heroes Day public speaking shield (plaque) donated by Senator Israel Bruce, former head boy of the school.