Youth debating competition builds confidence, public speaking skills – Young Influencers

The Ministry of Human Services and Social Security recently graduated Young Influencers are this year’s winners of the Speaker’s National Youth Debating Competition.

Held at the Arthur Chung Conference Centre (ACCC) on Tuesday, the competition saw the Young Influencers going up against last year’s winning team, the Golden OM Dharmic Youth Organisation with the moot, “Caricom’s biggest achievements are exemptions and excuses.”

The winning team went in favour of the moot and comprised Corissa McClure, Andrew King and Saaya Prasad.

Speaking with the Department of Public Information (DPI), the winners said the competition has helped them to properly formulate their points for any public speaking forum, and provided an insight of an ideal parliament sitting.

Being awarded as best speaker for the competition, McClure said she is proud of reaching so far in the competition.

“There are no words to describe the joy in my heart right now since it’s our first time as Young Influencers in this competition and won the champions of last year’s competition. We are forever grateful for this opportunity,” the debater noted.

For King, the platform is nothing new to him since he has taken part in debates during secondary school.

“The debate helped me to be more confident and to manage my time adequately. It also taught me how to properly deliver my speech to the audience. The exposure that I got and the techniques that I learnt were extremely important as well,” the young man stressed.

Meanwhile, Prasad noted how ecstatic she is to be a part of a far-reaching programme that aims at helping young people to reach their fullest potential.

“We are overwhelmed to have won the competition and we are looking forward to many more opportunities like this. We as first-time young influencers in this event would like to promote and influence other young people to come on board, so that our generation can continue to climb the ladder of success,” an excited Prasad expressed.

Speaker of the National Assembly, Manzoor Nadir, who also chaired the debate, said the competition took nearly three months and it saw teams from all the regions competing.

Along with the teams that participated on Tuesday, other groups received awards for participating in both the regional and national levels of the debates.

Minister of Culture, Youth and Sport, Charles Ramson Jr, charged the youths to take advantage of the competition and all other opportunities that will be made available.

“What you are doing here should not stop.  I am going to make an offer to this young, enthusiastic and brilliant group, my ministry is going to open up apprenticeship, mentorship and even if you want to volunteer, to anyone who is interested,” Minister Ramson stated.