Oratory Pillar thriving at the Boys’ College

Public Speaking Awards 2018

The annual event that our speakers took part in was organized by the Speech and Drama College of South Africa. St Stithians Boys’ College entered teams from each grade, including a team in the esteemed Trophy Team section and the Individual Speaker category. The Boys’ College was ranked 51 in over 100 schools with over 3000 participants for 2018 and we are endeavoring to improve upon this ranking each year.

Grade 8
James Lowman, Duncan Agar, James van Gool and Kyle Dawson

Grade 9 - Team One 
Michael Kirk, Justin van Vuren, Luke Reilly and Devon Brooks

Grade 9 - Team Two 
Adam Michael, Kyle Parker, Thabo Monyeki and Zarret Mills

Grade 10 Team One 
Ethan Naidoo, Daniel McAslin, Joshua van Tubberg and Nirav Goordeen

Grade 10 Team Two
Wanangwa Nyasulu, Keldon Shroeder, Sa'ad Patel and Isaac Shingange

Grade 11 Team One 
Ethan Charles, James McPhail, Benjamin Servant and Matt Davies

Grade 11 Team Two 
Alwyn Barnard, Jaedon van Schalkwyk, Thato Dilotsothle and Jarred Loggenberg

Grade 12 Trophy Team 
Taine de Buys, Nicholas Rogers and Jason Brown

Individual Best Speaker: Jonathan van Vuren

Three of our senior boys were also awarded Certificates of Excellence for their outstanding Master of Ceremony skills displayed when they managed the three competition evenings that we hosted: Jason Brown, Jonathan van Vuren, Tafara M’Kombe

Arts and Cultural Festival

This was the second year that the Boys’ College competed in this festival with more than triple the number of 2017. We are always excited to see more boys take up the challenge to compete in front of a new and diverse audience. This competition demands grit as the adjudication is far tougher and differs from the previous competition as one competes individually. Amongst the panel of adjudicators was seasoned television personality and journalist Leanne Manas. She gave the speakers individual feedback in order to sharpen their skills for future events.

Congratulations to: 
Kyle Parker 
Thabo Monyeki 
Munashe Mhere
Ethan Naidoo
Sa'ad Patel
Kelden Schroeder
Wanangwa Nyasulu
Isaac Shingange 
James McPhail
Benjamin Servant
Matt Davies
Jonathan van Vuren

We would like to congratulate Kago Saul in particular. The adjudicators never award an A+ but made an exception for the authentic and moving speech presented by Kago.

Toastmasters

This course is in its sixth year and we can now add a further 25 boys to our list of graduates. We congratulate these boys for committing to the eight week course and to developing their public speaking and meeting skills. We trust that you will use these new skills and your new found confidence in many opportunities that life will offer you.

Michael Bertschinger
Joshua Casey
Thato Dilotsotlhe
Rhys Du Randt
Matthew Fulbeck
Tendekai Gombarume
Nyasha Gumbo
Michael Hegarty
Liam Keegan
Michael Keogh
Timothy Lee
Nicholas McNally
Joshua Minnaar
Monde Mjacu
Ethan Moodley
Tadiwanashe Murewa
Jaysen Musonza
Robert-Reece North
Cameron Painting
Yaeshen Saman
Kago Saul
Luhan Van Aswegen
Joshua Van Tubbergh
Lukas Van der Merwe
Keshav Vijayanath

Special Awards:
Best Chairman: Michael Keogh 
Most improved overall speaker: Jaysen Musonza
Best prepared speakers: Joshua Casey and Kago Saul 
Best impromptu speaker: Michael Bertschinger 
Best overall speaker: Michael Keogh

Model United Nations Debating Competition
Being able to speak well is a talent, but being able to speak well and to speak intelligently is an art.

The Model United Nations team spend hours researching their assigned country to accurately represent their foreign and domestic policies. This team continues to grow as we participate in more events as presented by the South African Institute of International Affairs and WITS University. We were fortunate to compete in the Human Rights Debate that took place in Sharpeville in March. Our challenge was to represent Yemen. Our efforts were rewarded as we won the best position paper. Our written submission showed the judges that we understood the issues and were winners in this section.

Congratulations to: 
Ethan Charles, James McPhail and Matt Davies