Three Proserpine youth have spoken their heart out, at the annual Proserpine Lions Youth of the Year competition.
The Lions Youth of the Year was created to enable and encourage student to take an interest in leadership, providing the opportunity to take an active and constructive role in their community.
The Youth of the Year Final includes one prepared speech, on the topic of their choosing, and two impromptu speeches.
The three youth at the Proserpine Youth of the Year embody community spirit and positive leadership.
Alice Pinni is a Year 12 student from Proserpine State High School, a current school captain and heavily involved in sports, arts, and culture, with aspirations of pursing a career in healthcare and dentistry.
Alice’s prepared speech was on the topic of ‘The Erosion of Empathy in the Digital Age’.
Hurley Diessel is a Year 12 student from Proserpine State High School, with commitments in committees at his school.
His passions include personal fitness and musical theatre and his prepared speech was on the topic of ‘Paying Attention to Attention’.
The third speaker was Mia Vloedmans, a Year 11 student from Proserpine State High School, whose passions include the Senior Leadership team, the Social and Cultural Committee, and Care Group representative.
Mia’s prepared speech was ‘Burden to Blessings’, speaking of her Type 1 Diabetes diagnosis.
“All three speakers were excellent,” explained Jane Bettridge, the Lions Youth of the Year Coordinator.
“These youth are truly inspiring.”
The first of the two impromptu topics were ‘Consider the recent phone ban in schools, and how has the school’s culture changed?’
“All speakers believed that the ban was positive,” Jane explained.
“They all felt that the school culture has positively changed, and more conversations were being had at break times.”
The second topic was ‘Do you agree or disagree with this statement: A sense of humour is essential?’
“They all believe that having a sense of humour is essential,” Jane explained.
In the tight competition, all the students spoke eloquently, and “The judges had their work cut out for them.”
Hurley Diessel was awarded the Public Speaking Award, while Mia Vloedmans was awarded the Overall Winner, and will represent Proserpine, next weekend, March 3, in Collinsville at Zones, going up against the youth winner of Whitsunday, Bowen, Ayr and Collinsville Lions.
Mia, Alice, Hurley, Member for Whitsunday Ms Amanda Camm. Photo supplied
