Orator eyes national title

Reva Grills.
Reva Grills.
Reva Grills hopes to continue her school's reputation for producing great orators when she represents Otago and South Canterbury in the national final of the Lions Speech Competition later this year.

The 18-year-old Logan Park High School head girl recently added to her growing list of speech competition successes by winning the Otago-South Canterbury final of the Lions Speech Competition in Oamaru and the Otago-Southland Rotary Speech Competition in Invercargill.

She will now compete in the Lions Speech Competition national final in Wellington in August.

There is no national final for the Rotary Speech Competition.

At the Lions competition, she spoke about race unity in a prepared speech of five to six minutes, and then delivered an impromptu speech for two minutes on the topic: "Sports people get too much''.

A third of the marks came from the impromptu section.

Assistant principal Kristan Mouat said the success cemented her reputation as a fine orator.

"Reva's a very talented performer. Last year she won the top award of Best Shakespearean Actor in New Zealand at the national Sheilah Winn Shakespeare Festival in Wellington.

"She's a trained opera singer and performed last year in The Sound of Music, and this year she's helping direct our school musical Guys and Dolls.''

Reva said she was delighted to be representing the region at the national final, and she hoped to live up to Logan Park High School's reputation as a school that builds fine orators.

Last year, Logan Park High School pupil Jacobi Kohu-Morris won the national final of the Lions Speech Competition and received a six-week trip to the United States and Canada.

john.lewis@odt.co.nz

Add a Comment

 

Advertisement