Pearson pupils are top orators
[caption id="attachment_35417" align="alignright" width="405"] GIFTED: Pearson High School pupils Samantha Pieters, 17, left, and Jani Gerber, 16, will represent the province at the ATKV Oratory Competition final in August.[/caption]
PEARSON High School's debating team showed their oratory skills when they came out tops in the semi-final round of the prestigious ATKV Oratory Competition held in George at the weekend.
Grade 10 pupil Jani Gerber, 16, and Grade 11 pupil Samantha Pieters, 17, won in their respective categories and will represent the Eastern Cape in the national finals, which will be held in Rustenburg in August.
About 25 schools from around the country competed in the first round of the competition. Twenty schools made it to the semi-finals.
Jani was a member of another winning debate team – which included pupils Minet Nel and Inge de Wet, both 16 – three months ago at the Stellenbosch Woordfees Debating Competition, where they won a floating trophy for best new team.
Orators were given two hours to prepare their speeches before they had to deliver them at the semi-final. Five Pearson High pupils took part in the First Additional Language senior, Home Language junior and Home Language senior categories.
Two are among the top 20 speakers chosen to proceed to the finals: Samantha, who took part in the First Additional Language category, and Jani, who competed in the senior Home Language category. Lara van Heerden, 14, took part in the junior Home Language category and Mieke Struwig and Stephani le Roux, both 18, in the senior Home Language category.
Head of Culture and Afrikaans Department Jaco Gerber said Pearson High School was "indeed a school of oratory of excellence".
"I feel very proud. If you take into account how many schools across the country took part in the different first rounds and then in the semi-finals throughout the country, including Namibia, it is really a big honour to be one of the best orators in South Africa," he said. - Chanice Koopman
