Rugavi Jeyakumar, head prefect of Presbyterian Ladies College, Armidale, representing the Lions Club of Armidale Dumeresq, has taken out the Lions District Final of Youth of the Year, head at Coffs Harbour Surf Club recently.
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The candidates for this years’ final came from across the Lions District extending from Yamba, west to Collarenabri and down to Forster, were Blaise Borrer, Bellingen High School, representing the Lions Club of Urunga; Stephanie Clark, St Columba Anglican School, representing the Lions Club of Port Macquarie; Rugavi Jeyakumar, Presbyterian Ladies College, representing the Lions Club of Armidale Dumaresq; Jayden Merrick, McCarthy Catholic College, representing the Lions Club of Tamworth; Crystal Piper, Maclean High School, representing the Lions Club of Yamba; and Matthew Scott, Calrossy Anglican School, representing the Lions Club of Tamworth.
Matthew Scott took out the award for the Lions District Public Speaking.
The Lions Youth of the Year program is designed to encourage, foster and develop leadership in conjunction with other citizenship qualities in our youth, at the age when they are about to enter employment or higher education.
Each of the contestants responded very confidently to the impromptu questions;
“Professional Sports People are offered highly paid deals. How does this impact them on and off the field?” And “Do you think the label legend/hero is over used?”
The prepared speeches covered a range of challenging issues – Rugavi pondered “The Ignorance of Australians” – ignorance is rife in society with people choosing not to be informed, for example the vaccination or non-vaccination for measles; Jayden “Journalism is the art of intellectual prostitution” – for example where journalists are prostituting for companies or editors; Matthew “The Great Barrier Reef and its future”- look at what human activity is doing to this important geological structure; Crystal “The lazy generation” – education needs to be delivered differently because of advances in technology; Stephanie “Orange Sky” – the free mobile laundry service, giving back dignity ; Blaise “Education” – looking at problems within the system today.
These young adults are the leaders in their schools, not just as school captains, but in the areas of sport, music, art, community activities and sporting teams, and they assist in mentoring other students. And so the list goes on.
Congratulations go to all of these participants
