Somerset College has had another incredibly successful year in the A.B. Paterson Public Speaking competition! 

A huge total of 33 Somerset students from Years 4 to 11 participated, each crafting and proudly presenting their own, original speech. Whilst there is a list of broad topics from which students must choose, there is ample scope for them to explore ideas of personal interest, and the genuine passion exuded by each speaker made every one of their presentations an absolute pleasure to witness. With all of our students achieving so highly, Somerset College also took out the Secondary Schools Aggregate Trophy for the second consecutive year. 

Year 4 is a non-competitive introductory year, in which our five wonderful speakers enjoyed their first inter-school public speaking experience. In Years 6 to 11, heats are conducted with approximately eight to 10 competitors in each, all hailing from various schools from all over Southeast Queensland. Only the top two in each heat are selected to progress to finals. Of our 28 eligible competitors, Somerset College was represented by 15 Grand Finalists! 

Our talented finalists had just one week to refine and rigorously practice their speeches based on heat adjudicator feedback, but their hard work paid off, with each and every one of them blowing away Grand Final judges with the standard of their presentations. 

Especially outstanding is the achievements of our place-getters and a huge congratulations to: 

Year 7
  • 1st Place - Abhilasha Sarmah (Abhi also won 1st Place in Year 5 in 2021!)
  • 2nd Place - Jamie Chirathivat-Geralds  
Year 8
  • 3rd Place - Ruhara Mapabandara (Ruhara also achieved 2rd place in Year 7 in 2022)
Year 9
  • 1st Place - Abhiraj Sarmah (Abhiraj also won 1st place in Year 8 in 2022 and 1st place in Year 7 in 2021) 
Year 10
  • 1st Place - Nadia Wu 

A huge congratulations and thanks to every one of our speakers this year for representing Somerset College in a manner of which we are all exceedingly proud. Well done!

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