Chrystall Carter Public Speaking Competition Winner · Carter Public Speaking Competition. We are delighted to announce that Sarena won the competition – a Croydon High first. Well

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6th March 2020

Chrystall Carter Public Speaking Competition Winner

Following a victorious round at the semi-final at Sutton High, Sarena in Year 11 travelled to

Portsmouth High School last Friday 28th February to compete in the final of the GDST Chrystall

Carter Public Speaking Competition. We are delighted to announce that Sarena won the

competition – a Croydon High first. Well done, Sarena!

One of our talented Young Reporters, Dina in Year 11, covered the event in This is Local London.

A first-time win for Croydon High School at the GDST Chrystall Carter Public

Speaking Competition - by Dina, Croydon High School

On Friday 28th February, Portsmouth High School hosted the final of the GDST (Girls Day School

Trust) Chrystall Carter Public Speaking Competition: an excellent opportunity for students in

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6th March 2020

GDST schools to test their ability to speak

confidently about important topics in front of a

large audience.

The Chrystall Carter Public Speaking

Competition was created in memory of

Chrystall Carter: a Legal Adviser and Deputy

Secretary to the GDST, until her sudden death

in 1999. Students are given a topic relating to

societal issues of today and must give a

confident argument of their view on that topic.

They must also be able to engage with the audience and deal with challenging questions posed to

them after their speech.

Croydon High School - as well as all other GDST schools participating in the contest - held

auditions to select one of their Year 11 students to represent them in a bid to win the prestigious

Chrystall Carter Prize. In Croydon High School, Sarena was chosen as the best candidate and

then competed in the semi-final of the competition against four other GDST schools in her

region.

After emerging victorious from the semi-final with her brilliant speech on the topic “Are humans

becoming defunct?”, Sarena then went on to compete in the final competition which was held at

Portsmouth High School. This was a tougher competition as it was against the four other

speakers who had won their semi-final - just like Sarena had done. These schools included:

Notting Hill and Ealing High School; Sheffield High School; Wimbledon High School; and

Oxford High School. Topics discussed included: “Memory is the most important part of identity”;

“There is no such thing as evil”; “Can we tackle climate change without changing human nature

first?”; and “Fake news has always been around. In fact, all news is fake in some way”.

Although these were all extremely interesting and thought-provoking topics, discussed in

creative ways by four confident girls who had evidently put much effort into writing and

performing their speeches, it was ultimately Sarena who managed to win the final - and therefore

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6th March 2020

the whole competition - with her speech on the

topic of “The fear of racial other is inherent in every

nation. We should be embracing otherness rather

than attempting to eliminate it”. This gave Croydon

High School their first-ever win in the competition.

Speaking after her victory, Sarena told me, “I was

quite shocked to win because I really didn’t expect

it! The experience as a whole was out of the

ordinary for me because I’d never done anything

like it - so it was a bit daunting at first and I felt privileged just to be able to listen to the other

speakers let alone take part!”

The day was one to be remembered by all who were

lucky enough to have the chance to watch as well as

those taking part. Many thanks are given to

Portsmouth High School for being such brilliant

hosts of such an enriching and wonderful

competition.