Female Youth Public

Speaking Award 2016 event evaluation

Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter Alliance Advisory Committee

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Contents Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter Alliance Advisory Committee .................................................... 2

The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award ................................................................. 2

The importance of public speaking ..................................................................................................... 3

Date ..................................................................................................................................................... 3

Venue .................................................................................................................................................. 3

Theme ................................................................................................................................................. 3

Format ................................................................................................................................................. 3

The Speakers ....................................................................................................................................... 4

............................................................................................................................................................ 5

The Winner .......................................................................................................................................... 5

Audience .............................................................................................................................................. 6

Catering ............................................................................................................................................... 7

Budget ................................................................................................................................................. 7

Advertising/Publicity ........................................................................................................................... 7

Feedback ............................................................................................................................................. 7

Lessons for next time .......................................................................................................................... 7

The Future ........................................................................................................................................... 7

The Principles of the Women’s Charter ............................................................................................... 7

Gender equity: ................................................................................................................................. 7

Diversity: ......................................................................................................................................... 8

Active citizenship: ............................................................................................................................ 8

Appendix 1: Assessment criteria ......................................................................................................... 9

Appendix 2: Publicity ......................................................................................................................... 10

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Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter Alliance Advisory Committee The Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter Alliance Advisory Committee (GSWCAAC) is a community advisory committee (of the Greater Shepparton City Council) that is part of a broader network of Local Government Area (LGA) advisory committees across the state that are guided and informed by the Victorian Local Government Women’s Charter. The Charter recognises the need to increase women’s participation in key decision making forums in the community and in democratic governance.

An action plan focussing on Diversity, Active Citizenship and Gender Equity guides the key strategic objectives of this committee.

The GSWCAAC is made up of community representatives and Council Officers, and is supported by Greater Shepparton City Council. The GSWCAAC meets monthly and community members are welcome to attend as guests, with an annual intake of members undertaken in March each year.

Above: Some of the members of the Greater Shepparton Women’s Charter Alliance Advisory

Committee.

The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award was held for the first time in 2016 with prospect to be held annually.

The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award provided female youth the opportunity to develop their research skills in relation to a topic for change or cause.

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The importance of public speaking Public Speaking is valuable because:

• It promotes confidence and effective public presentation. • It encourages logical and critical thinking, social awareness and an interest in current affairs. • Its benefits extend through all aspects of life. • It is multidisciplinary and will benefit students’ general oral communication skills and

provides practise speaking to a public audience in a formal environment beyond the classroom setting.

• It promotes community connectedness and social inclusion.

Furthermore;

• The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award provided students with an incentive/motivation to present at the Greater Shepparton City Council.

• The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award provided students with certification for their resumes to assist them with future employment opportunities.

• The GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award provided recognition and encouragement with the GSWCAAC members providing general encouragement, general support and mentorship.

• Having youth present helped the GSWCAAC to understand youth and the issues and ideas they are passionate about. The GSWCAAC can then use this information to facilitate other ideas or programs.

Date Friday 25 November 2016

Venue The Board Room, Greater Shepparton City Council offices, Shepparton.

Theme Public Speaking – Topics for change or cause.

Format After conducting their research and preparing their speeches, the six participants delivered their speeches to members of the GSWCAAC.

Each speaker was given five minutes in which to deliver their speech.

Members of the GSWCAAC then used predetermined assessment criteria to score each speaker, before deciding upon a winner.1

Each speaker was presented with a certificate of participation by Councillor Seema Abdullah and Ms Kimberley Tempest, Assistant Principal of Shepparton High School.

It is anticipated that the GSWCAAC will be able to further acknowledge the speakers and the winner at a future Shepparton High School assembly. 1 See Appendix 1 for a copy of the assessment criteria

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The Speakers The speakers were Year 9 and Year 11 students from Shepparton High School, all with aspirations to further their education and to obtain employment in their chosen fields. The speakers chose their own topics, as listed below:

• Hazel Tutunca – Year 9 o State government should increase funding to state schools to improve buildings,

grounds and facilities. • Sienna Mehmet – Year 9

o State government should increase funding to literacy programs in state education. • Prue Bester – Year 9

o Teen pregnancy • Dawn Batten – Year 11

o Organ Donation • Shania Mirtschin – Year 11

o The benefits of education • Paige Cleave – Year 11

o Changes required to puppy farming legislation.

Below: The students received their certificates from the Shepparton High School Assistant Principal Kimberley Tempest and Councillor Seema Abdullah. From left to right, top to bottom are: Hazel Tutunca, Sienna Mehmet, Prue Bester, Dawn Batten, Shania Mirtschin, and Paige Cleave.

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The Winner The standard of delivery was very high from all the speakers. The speakers are to be commended for their commitment and confidence in their delivery.

The winner of the GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award was Sienna Mehmet.

Below: Sienna Mehmet, the winner of the GSWCAAC - 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award, delivering her speech.

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Audience Members of the GSWCAAC were in the audience and also provided adjudication.

Four staff from Sheppparton High School were also in attendance. They were: Assistant Principal - Kimberley Tempest, Business Manager - Marilyn Mancini, Robyn Hough – Year 9 Coordinator, Denise Stewart – English Teacher.

Denise Stewart (English Teacher and GSWCAAC Member) assisted each student to refine and prepare their speeches and delivery.

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Above: Denise Stewart (left), Shepparton High School English Teacher, assisted the students with their speech preparation. The students are (from left) Hazel Tutunca, Sienna Mehmet, Prue Bester, Dawn Batten, Shania Mirtschin, and Paige Cleave.

Catering Morning tea was provided by Eastbank.

There were vegetarian and gluten free options.

Budget The total cost of the event was $115.50 including GST. This cost was entirely for catering.

Advertising/Publicity The GSWCAAC did not conduct any advertising. The event was not open to members of the public.

An article appeared in the Shepparton High School Newsletter.2

Feedback Formal feedback was not asked for, however the GSWCAAC provided general feedback on the day and this will discussed in more detail at a future GSWCAAC meeting. The general feedback from students, staff and the GSWCAAC was extremely positive.

Lessons for next time If the GSWCAAC were to conduct another Female Youth Public Speaking Award the following items could be considered in order to provide improvement:

• Revision of adjudication form – some fine tuning to the adjudication form may be needed.

• Reference checking in speeches

• Encourage the GSWCAAC members to ask specific questions for student introductions. For example: Why did you choose this topic? What do you want to do when you leave school?

The Future 2016 was the first time the GSWCAAC held the Female Youth Public Speaking Award. The possibility of holding an annual event has been raised and will be decided upon by the GSWCAAC.

If another GSWCAAC Female Youth Public Speaking Award is held, an invitation may be extended to other schools to invite them to participate.

The Principles of the Women’s Charter The GSWCAAC is guided by three principles. They are:

Gender equity: That women and men have an equal right to be representatives in local governments, committees and decision-making positions.

2 See Appendix 2 for a copy of the article that appeared in the Shepparton High School Newsletter.

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Diversity: The inclusion of different experiences and perspectives in local governments and community decision-making strengthens local democratic governance and helps build cohesive communities. Councils and communities encourage and welcome the participation of all women.

Active citizenship: Local governments will work with the community to increase the numbers and participation of women in public life, so that decision-making more clearly represents and reflects the interests and demographies of communities.

The GSWCAAC believes the 2016 Female Youth Public Speaking Award was linked to all three principles.

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Appendix 1: Assessment criteria Below: A copy of the adjudication criteria given to each adjudicator.

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Appendix 2: Publicity Below: A copy of the article that appeared in the Shepparton High School Newsletter.