Student wins a Full Tuition Fee Waiver from Sunway College in Public Speaking Competition

“Plastic didn’t decide to kill itself, to jump into the river and cause pollution. We are the ones who decide there’s the trash bin and there’s the river. So why blame plastic for pollution when we are the ones who decide to throw our trash into the river and not into the rubbish bin”, this was one of the points made by seventeen year old Ethan Ganes who emerged as Champion in the Public Speaking & Essay Writing Competition 2014.

The competition organised by Sunway College together with the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Malaysia saw a crowd of 792 fourth and fifth formers, led by 88 teachers from 49 schools, as far away as Ipoh, Seremban and Melaka attending the event. While their fellow friends attended the talks held within the Sunway campus, 90 students participated in the public speaking competition and 88 in the essay writing competition.

All the winners with the judges and representatives from Sunway College and the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Malaysia

A student of SMK Sultan Abdul Samad, Ganes’ creative views on the impromptu speech topic “Plastic” placed him ahead of six finalists winning himself a cash prize of RM600, full tuition fee waiver for any pre-university programme at Sunway College and a trophy for his school. Citing this as his first ever competition, Ganes who had initially planned on going to Form 6 said, “Winning this opens up a whole new world.”

Yeoh Han Yang Shaun from Chong Hwa Independent High School came in second and Yap Huey Zhie from SMK Batu Unjur in third place. Winners of the Consolation prizes were Shammini A/P Selladurai from SMK Seremban 2, Emmanuel Yogan Lourdes from SMK Sultan Abdul Samad and Lim En May from Chong Hwa Independent High School. Participants were judged on clear pronunciation, clarity of argument and analytical thinking skills in both the prepared and impromptu speeches for the public speaking competition.

Winners of the Essay Writing Competition

“I am impressed by some of the speakers who demonstrated the ability to relate to the audience and deliver an argument that strikes a chord in the listener’s heart. They have demonstrated the thought process behind words that interpret, analyse and evaluate an argument for the greatest impact on the audience” said Elizabeth Lee, Senior Executive Director, Sunway Education Group.

In the essay writing competition, Chin Yan Han from Chong Hwa Independent High School walked away as the Champion with her essay on “Failure is often a better teacher than success”. Chin won herself a cash prize of RM600, full tuition fee waiver for any pre-university programme at Sunway College and a trophy for her school. Ch’ng Tze Yu from SMJK Katholik and Lok Huey Ning from SMK Bandar Utama Damansara 3 were first runner-up and second runner-up. Consolation Prize winners were Beatrice Bock Jin Shen from Tsun Jin High School, Dheepa Mailvaganam from SMK Assunta and Chua Jien Fern from SMK Seri Mutiara.

Winners of the Public Speaking Competition

The Sunway Education Group, and the Oxford and Cambridge Society of Malaysia organise this yearly event with the aim that it will be an agent of change in motivating students to appreciate the beauty of the English Language whether in a well-written essay or an argument in spoken form.