Lorne student wins Lions Club’s Youth of the Year

LATE last month a Surf Coast student was given a prestigious award by the Torquay Lions Club.

Year 11 Lorne student Lily Watterson was awarded the Torquay Lions Club’s Youth of the Year award and also won their Public Speaking Award.

The Youth of the Year program looks to identify excellence in academia, leadership, cultural, sporting, public speaking and citizenship involvement.

The public speaking segment is conducted at the Lion’s Youth of the Year dinner at the Village Community Centre in Kooringa Place, Torquay.

It sees the students deliver a five-minute speech to an adult audience, who asks two impromptu questions of the students.

Ms Watterson’s performance in public speaking was closely followed by Torquay’s Max Neal’s effort.

Youth of the Year program co-ordinator Nick Kearsey praised both students’ speeches.

“Their prepared speeches were excellent,” Mr Kearsey said.

“They handled the two impromptu questions exceptionally well and impressed the three judges with their activities related to the Youth of the Year criteria.”

The judges were all Lion Club members, comprising of retired public servant Michael Oliver, and retired teachers Janine Coombs and Merrilyn Stano.

Miss Watterson and Mr Neal both spoke on difficult topics, with Miss Watterson talking about assisted dying and Mr Neal about changing Australia’s National Anthem.

Mr Kearsey said their speeches were the best of a strong selection.

“This year we had a very competitive group of students from Surf Coast Secondary College.”

As the next step in the nation-wide program, Miss Watterson will now go to the Lions Zone Final.