Pink being more a vibe and way of life than just a colour, Wakefield being the best place ever, and tomatoes were all on the menu at the Waimea Cluster Primary School Speech competition last week.
Ranzau, Brightwater, Richmond, Appleby, Henley, St Paul’s and Nelson Christian Academy were all represented by the top two speech deliverers at their local school competition, when they took to the stage at Waimea College last Wednesday.
Ultimately it was Richmond School’s Jane Lelo who impressed the three judges to gain the combined top score.
Jane’s speech on Just Stop! Dad Jokes, was both well thought out and entertaining.
Jane’s mum, dad and even her stepdad Hamish were all thrown under the bus for their cringeworthy dad jokes.
Jane recalled strolling out of her bedroom in a new pair of kicks to her mum claiming she looked “shoeper cool”, and her stepdad remarking “Yeah, she’s laced for style”.
Appleby School’s Ember van Boxel took attendees on a first-person account of a day in the life of her cat, sharing her delight in finding a rat to bring home for her family as a thoughtful gift.
“The head for me, the body for my family,” she joyfully expressed as part of her speech subject ‘footsteps’.
Henley School’s Kearni Kawhena-Tamati claimed to be a “fraud” – his speech was supposed to be about the subject ‘red’, but actually his chosen topic – tomatoes – could also be orange, yellow, and green, in their more than 10,000 varieties. He too managed to slip in a joke – “Why don’t tomatoes get lost while exploring? Because they always ketchup.”
Hosted by Richmond Lions Club, the 39th contest gives young people a chance to speak in front of strangers and move out of their comfort zone.
Jane won a $50 Paper Plus voucher for her efforts while second place getter Naomi Fryer and third place getter Lucy Scholl dos Santos took home $30 and $20 vouchers, respectively.
