Woodbridge, Thornhill students compete for Speaking Idol title
(YorkRegion.com)

Two Vaughan students are looking to be idols.

Students from across the province participated in the seventh annual Speakers Idol competition presented by Friends of Simon Wiesenthal Centre for Holocaust Studies. The annual competition recognizes 10 finalists from grades 6 to 12 who speak to a panel of judges who compete to be this year’s idol.

Past participants credit the competition with motivating them to volunteer, inspiring their chosen career path, igniting their passion for public speaking and heightening their awareness of social injustices in Canada and across the globe.

This year, Woodbridge’s Cora Usurelu and Thornhill’s Sam Gorman, both Brain Power Enrichment students, were named finalists for the competition.

“I started public speaking with slam poetry but thought this opportunity would give me a larger platform to help get my point across,” Usurelu said.

The Grade 9 student focused her speaking segment around the use of social media and the negative impact it can have on people.

“Hateful messages do leave scars,” she said. “We need to find the balance between free speech and removing harmful content.”

This is a great opportunity to have a large audience, an auditorium filled with about 300 people, she added. Youth have the ability to speak out and Usurelu feels it is the only way things will get done.

Gorman explained that those who wish to compete for the title and the prizes must submit a written copy of their speech for the judging panel to review, an element he thought most interesting. Contestants were then asked to deliver the speech in front of a panel of university debate members in a workshop.

He crafted his speech around freedom of speech, specifically on how when it is really understood, how it can be used to improve the world.

“I’m really good at connecting with people when I speak,” he said when asked what he thought gave him an edge above the competition. “I really want to make sure I get my point across.”

Gorman feels the experience will serve him well in the future when pursuing a career in business, something that requires a lot of public speaking.