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Young Voices Shine at Duhallow Public Speaking Event
On October 18th, the James O’Keeffe Memorial institute became the setting for a memorable event as Duhallow national school students took centre stage to present speeches they had prepared for the annual public speaking event. This initiative, made possible through funding from the SICAP Programme and supported by the IRD Duhallow Youth and Education Working Group, represented the final step in a series of engaging workshops where children honed their public speaking skills and developed communicative confidence. Under the skilled guidance of Dr. Siobhán Fitzgerald, creator of the Lets Stand Progamme, local students showcased their talents through a series of articulate and thoughtful speeches. Let’s Stand is a dedicated programme developed specifically for primary school children, that breaks down the skills of public speaking into an accessible, easy to understand and fun format. IRD Duhallow Board Member Amanda O’Sullivan was present on the day to give positive feedback and words of advice to the young speakers. She provided the children with guidance on their delivery techniques and highlighting the importance of their accomplishment in public speaking. The young participants spoke about topics that were deeply meaningful to them and impressed the audience with their skills in intonation, speech structure, hand gestures, eye contact, descriptive language, and voice projection. IRD Duhallow Development officer Nollaig Murphy specifically thanked the children’s parents, guardians and teachers for supporting them to participate in the event and noted every child’s wholehearted engagement with the programme. The children recited a wonderful poem for the audience entitled ‘I have a voice’ and given their outstanding presentations, it is safe to say that future is bright for these young people.
