Zone Chairman and Youth of the Year Chairman, Lion Terry Carroll of the Grenfell Lions Club, welcomed Quest entrants and their families, judges, Lions, Lions Ladies/partners and guests to Lions Club Youth of the Year Zone judging for 2018 which took place at The Railway Hotel on Sunday February 25.
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Past District Governors of 201N4, Anthony Smith and his wife Judy, John Skelton and his wife Diane and Sarah Higgs THLHS Lions Youth of the Year coordinator were in attendance for this most prestigious event on the Lions calendar.
The Youth of the Year judging took place whilst members from Cowra, Young, Forbes and District, Boorowa, Canowindra and Grenfell attended a Zone meeting.
Apologies were received from District Governor of 201N4 Anne Jones OAM, Past District Governors Peter Perry, Roger Thomas, Barbara Andrews, Vice District Governor Gavan Ellis, Eugowra Lions Club, Stuart Freudenstein President of Young Lions Club and Jaclyn Hughes from the National Australia Bank Grenfell.
Four very worthy students, Jessica Pereira -The Henry Lawson High School Grenfell, Samuel Long - Cowra High School, Marylouise Minehan from Harden – Hennessey Catholic College Young and Elly Katharine Collins - Parkes Christian School (Forbes and District) participated in the final.
The four entrants displayed their talents and knowledge before a distinguished panel of judges, Carly Brown – Councillor of Weddin Shire Council, Ngaire Soley – Manager Grenfell Record and Matthew Lynch – former Head English teacher at The Henry Lawson High School.
Following the Zone meeting, private interviews and prior to lunch, forty four people were in attendance to hear the outstanding responses to the two X two minute impromptu questions.
1. The media is reporting potential looming energy crises in Australia. What are some factors that should be taken into account when formulating effective responses?
2. A humanitarian crisis is unfolding in Syria. What are some ways that countries like Australia can contribute satisfactorily to its resolution?
Contestants answered these questions with enthusiasm and some very interesting and different aspects were presented.
The students delivered their five-minute prepared speeches following lunch.
Jessica’s Pereira’s topic was “Why History?” Samuel Long delivered his speech “Women’s Rights and Freedom”; Marylouise Minehan’s speech was “Each to their own”, whilst Elly Collins’s was “Living in a world without emotion. The conflict between emotion and logic and their impact on society”.
Spokesperson for the judging panel, Matthew Lynch said that the judges were astounded by the calibre of all four students, at this level of the competition this is what we would expect - he said that it was a very difficult decision. He emphasised to the audience that the public speaking segment which the general public witnessed only accounts for 30% of the marks with the other 80% of marks being allocated from their performance at the private interview and information supplied on their entry forms.
Marylouise Minehan was announced as Public Speaking winner as well as overall winner of the Lions Youth of the Year Zone Final.
Marylouise will participate in the District finals at Young on Saturday March 17 with the winner going on to the State Final in Bankstown on April 14 and from there if successful to the Multiple District Convention in Townsville in May where one young finalist will be announced Lions Australia Youth of the Year 2018.
Sponsored by the National Australia Bank, the Quest is a community project that aims to assist secondary students in developing leadership and other citizenship qualities.
Zone Chairman, Lion Terry Carroll (Chairman of the Youth of the Year Committee) thanked all for attending and congratulated all the students on the achievements; he presented Participants Certificates to the four students and a gift from National Australia Bank.
He thanked the Grenfell Lions Club for hosting the Quest and said that it is a great platform for which thoughts, passions and opinions can be expressed and for the students to gain confidence and that he was very proud of them all.
Following the presentations to the students, Terry thanked the judges and presented them with a gift and certificates of appreciation. He also thanked the timekeepers Lain Thiel and Deidre Carroll and the Manager and staff at the Railway Hotel for providing the venue, a beautiful meal and their assistance on the day.