McCallion
Quest
Barker speaks from the Heart and captures the Public Speaking Championship held at Fallingbrook Public School
By: Ambika Gupta, staff writer
On April 9th, 11 elite Grade 6-8 students from a variety of Mississauga Middle Schools competed in a public speaking contest dubbed “Excellence In Eloquence” at Fallingbrook Middle School. This annual contest, which started in 2002, has become a celebration of Mississauga students’ public speaking talents.
This year, Hazel McCallion’s own Andrew Barker, a grade 6 student from class 6C, proudly represented Hazel McCallion Sr. Public School at this speech competition and walked away with the first prize. His speech, on “Motivation”, captured the audience’s attention right from the start. Speaking from his heart, Matthew gave a very persuasive and expressive speech that left his audience with something to think about. He and his mother rehearsed for 2 weeks in preparation for the contest. “I am happy”, said Andrew after winning the competition.
Mrs. Woods, his teacher and a member of the audience during the final competition, expressed her thoughts towards his performance, “The difference between the almost-right word and the right word is really a large matter-it’s the difference between the lightening bug and the lightning”.
Clearly, Andrew made a very sincere effort and for this effort he received an outstanding achievement as a result. Andrew has been asked to present his speech at the next meeting of the Peel District School Board which takes place on May 15th. Organizers of this competition have announced they plan to extend this opportunity to all students in the entire Peel District School Board next year. In addition to the regular Ontario Curriculum program, that features skills in Oral Language, Hazel McCallion teachers encourage this leading edge, public speaking skill among their students.