Heroes’ Memorial public speaking showcase
On Friday, February 9, the top public speaking winners from Grade 3 up gave their speeches to a student and parent audience. The seven orators could make a speech that was designed to either entertain or to inform their audience. Connor Patch in Grade 4 had the audience in stitches as he spoke about his older sister, Kaylah. Shawn Needham, also in Grade 4, gave a speech about the beginnings of the NHL. James Piette, in Grade 3, spoke about endangered species. Kohle Devlin in Grade 6 had some interesting thoughts about an eight-hour road trip. Maxence Blanchard was the winner from Grade 6-7, but he was not able to give his speech. Runnerup Noah Sparling spoke about weird cake flavours that might sound good. Nathan Dresler in Grade 5 spoke about the Twin Towers.
Devon Whitehead, in Grade 5-6, wrote about the importance of wearing helmets. Highlights from his speech are as follows:
The Importance of Helmets “… Today I will be discussing why it is important to wear a helmet while doing extreme sports. Extreme sports like skateboarding, snowboarding, skiing, motocross, and mountain biking are becoming more popular every year. These sports can be dangerous if you are not wearing a helmet. Eighty-three 83 per cent of injuries reported from those sports are head injuries and 17 per cent are neck injuries. The injuries reported may be crushed skulls, severe concussions, and broken blood vessels. Wearing a helmet can help to reduce how severe an injury will be. …Studies prove that helmets save lives. Extreme sports are getting more dangerous all the time. Athletes push themselves to go faster, to go bigger, and to go longer as they try to become the best. …
“I would like to tell you a story about Kevin Pearce. Kevin was a professional snowboarder sponsored by Burton Snowboards. He had made the USA Olympic Snowboarding Team in 2010. He was the favourite to win the gold medal, seeing how he had beat Shawn White in other competitions. While training in the halfpipe a few weeks before the 2010 Olympics, Kevin was gearing up to practice a new trick. He was getting closer and closer to landing the trick, and then he tried one last time, and it didn’t end well. Kevin missed his landing and faceplanted on the icy half-pipe. Luckily, he was wearing a helmet. His accident left him with lifelong injuries. He suffered from constant double vision, memory loss, and seizures. Unfortunately, the helmet was not able to save his snowboarding career, but it did save his life. Kevin suffered a traumatic brain injury, and could no longer compete at a professional level. Today Kevin spreads his story with the Loveyourbrain Foundation. I was lucky enough to meet Kevin and one message was clear: ‘Wear your helmet.’
“In many of these extreme sports wearing a helmet isn’t forced. Ski hills don’t have a rule that you wear a helmet. Skate parks have signs that you should be wearing a helmet, but no one is there to force you to. Bike paths don’t have someone watching to be sure you’re wearing a helmet.
“I would like to end by saying, shoot for your dreams, be brave, and push yourself. But most importantly, be safe. I say wear the helmet. It may save your life.”
These are wise words from someone so young.