McCallion
Quest
French Immersion Peel Regional Speech Competition-
Hazel’s own Ben Hayward and Annie Li walk off with 1st and 2nd!!!
By: Irena Papst, Editor
It was 10:15am on Wednesday, March 30th . The school wide finalists, from our French Speech Competition piled into the cars of Mme Drider and Mme Michaud to attend the Peel Regional Level French Speech Competition. Our two candidates from Hazel McCallion were competing against the best of the best from the other French Immersion schools in Peel Region.
At the beginning of March, Mme Drider, Mme Michaud, Mme Ligonde and Mme Appleton, the French teachers of the Grade 7 and 8 French Immersion classes, approached their classes and told them they would be writing speeches during the next month. Not only was it going to count as a mark for our French oral, but we would also be competing in the school for one of the two spots to represent Hazel McCallion at the Peel Regional Level of the competition. After the Regional Level of the competition, there was the possibility of going to the Provincial Level, meaning the winner would be up against students from all over Ontario.
Wow. The whole subject of the speech competition was huge. Everybody was talking about it. There were the extreme views, those who some knew exactly what to write about to those who were so annoyed about writing their speech in French! But the majority of the French students faced a familiar horror! Speech subjects began bouncing back and forth from student to student until, over time, we finally settled on our own topics and started writing away. As with certain subjects at school, for some it was easier then others. Some, who will remain nameless, were stuck writing frantic last minute speeches because they completely forgot over the March Break (hmmm….don’t you hate it when that happens?)
But when it came to presenting in front of the class, pretty much everyone pulled it together and managed not to fall to pieces while presenting their speech in front of the class. The Grade 7's didn’t have to present it in front of their classes, but they still had the chance to ‘volunteer’ to compete in the contest. The Grade 7 volunteers were Megan Jones, Jackie Hamilton, Kaitlin Kimove, Jonathan Wei, Fady Sedarous and Annie Claude Laurin. From the Grade 8 classes, 2 students (1 girl and 1 boy) were selected to represent their class in front of the school. Altogether, there were 8 Grade 8 students, 2 each from 8A,B,C and D and the Grade 7’s who volunteered to join the competition. 2 students from this ‘school group’ would be selected to represent Hazel McCallion at the Regional Level.
The students in Grade 8 chosen to compete at the school were Annie Li, Carly Marks, Jessica Truman, Ben Hayward, Zach Read, Dimitri Podubni, Mitchell Louie, and myself. Of course, like most, if not all in the group, I had butterflies in my stomach about performing in front of the entire Grade 8 French Immersion population. But they soon passed as I was third to go. After a lot of deliberations, the judges decided to award Annie Li and Ben Hayward with the honour of representing our school at the Regional French school competition. Although the idea of losing never pleases anyone, I was extremely happy as I thought both Annie and Ben really deserved it. I knew that they were the best representatives that Hazel McCallion could offer at the Regional Level.
This brings us back to 10:15am on Wednesday, March 30th at the Regional Level competition. We piled into the cars of Mme Drider and Mme Michaud, and were off to the competition. Both Annie and Ben seemed nervous but happy to represent our school. During the whole drive there I could hear Annie muttering her speech under her breath to make sure she didn’t forget anything. It was there where I realized how big this competition was and how truly serious our candidates were about making sure Hazel McCallion came out of this victorious in some way.
Fortunately for Annie, she didn’t have a long time to worry about forgetting her speech. The location of the competition, the Peel District School Board Office, was pretty close to our school. Those of us who had a chance to go and see the competition (yes, we, the people who competed but lost at the school level) couldn’t help but be a little nervous and excited for our friends. Presenting their speeches in front of complete strangers was going to be a challenge for anyone.
At 11:00am we took our seats; the school representatives sat in the front, the audience directly behind them. Our candidates were up against tough competition and I could see the nervousness building up in their eyes as they were called upon to deliver their speeches. However, in true Hazel fashion both Annie and Ben rose up and faced the challenge head on. I saw the fear melt away as they got up in front of the judges and audience and delivered their speeches with a mastery that would have made Pierre Trudeau or any French public speaker go green with envy. As our candidates stepped down off the stage, all of us in the Hazel crowd, both teachers and students were full of pride.
We all left the room so that the judges could go and deliberate. After a 5 minute break at the refreshment table we were informed that the judges were ready to announce their choice. We filed in excitedly and I believe I saw Ben twitch a few times. Yes, even I, who didn’t even perform, had butterflies in my stomach as we sat down on the benches once more. The verdict was in.
The master of ceremonies, Mme. Josée Dumas-Hurt, approached center stage and first handed out the certificates to every candidate, as a token of appreciation for their participation. Next, she announced that she would be awarding 3rd place first and that only 1st and 2nd place would go to provincials because there were only two spots in the Provincial Level. 3rd place went to a girl from Homestead Sr. P.S.
The tension was forming knots in my stomach. Next she announced that 2nd place would go to our own Annie Li! My stomach loosened up as a clapped as hard as I could. I knew Hazel would win something for sure. And then we were left with only one spot. 1st place. I took a deep breath as I saw Mme. Dumas-Hurt utter the first syllable of the winner’s name. Her lips formed as though she was about to utter the letter B and I immediately knew that our own Ben Hayward had won first place. Her announcement of Ben’s name confirmed what I was thinking. I, like everyone else from Hazel were ecstatic. All of us couldn’t contain ourselves. Everyone in the Hazel section rose to roar our approval in congratulating our winners. Ben and Annie had succeeded in snagging the only two spots left to compete at the Provincial level. They had won it for themselves, and for Hazel McCallion. To them I say, once more, congratulations.