Surrey students medal at B.C. French public speaking contest

Kaitlyn Lu, a student at Fleetwood Park Secondary, and Ben Tyler, from Earl Marriott Secondary, both took first place at the 2019 Concours d'art oratoire. They were among an impressive eight students from Surrey Schools who won medals at the public speaking competition.

Eight Surrey elementary and secondary students reached the podium at the 2019 Concours d'art oratoire.

The 36^th-annual French public speaking competition attracted 10,000 students from across B.C. Of those, 209 made it to the provincial finals, which were held May 4 at SFU Surrey. Seventeen of the finalists were from Surrey Schools.

Winning gold medals were two Surrey secondary students: Ben Tyler, a Grade 9 immersion student at École Earl Marriott Secondary, for his speech "Les Avantages des OGMs alimentaires"; and Kaitlyn Lu, a Grade 11/12 core French student at Fleetwood Park Secondary, who won for "L'importance du vote." Tyler also won the RésoSanté prize for health subject.

Six other Surrey students also took home medals, including:

Silver

Liam Quan - École Martha Currie Elementary, Grade 6 early immersion, "La Dependance"

Kiana Verrier - École Earl Marriott Secondary, Grade 9 Francophone, "Les écoles résidentielles"

Roop Dhillon - École Frost Road Elementary, Grade 6/7 intensive French, "La science derrière le système"

Bronze

Kashish Bal - École Frost Road Elementary, Grade 6/7 intensive French, "Ma vie"

Sarah Hwang - École K.B. Woodward Elementary, Grade 7 late immersion, "Le the aux perles"

Simone Saini - École Kwantlen Park, Grade 10 immersion, "Pourquoi devrait-il être nécessaire de vaccine les enfants?"

Other provincial finalists from Surrey were:

Amélie Hall - École Peace Arch Elementary, Grade 6 Francophone, "Être enfant unique"
Elisha Zeng - École K. B. Woodward Elementary, Grade 6 Late Immersion, "Le Japon"
Louis Wight - École Peace Arch Elementary, Grade 7 Francophone, "Le meilleur astrophysicien"
Felix Bubbar - École Laronde Elementary, Grade 7 Immersion, "9-1-1"
Kelly-Anne Gardner - École Salish Secondary, Grade 8 Immersion, "L'exploration de l'océan"
Simarpreet Singh - Frank Hurt Secondary, Grade 10 Core French, "Le rêve d'un roi"
Maggie Huang - Elgin Park Secondary, Grade 11 Core French, "Mes parents"
Shana Nursoo - École Salish Secondary, Grade 11 Francophone, "Le monde modern"
Ryan Zrymiak - École Salish Secondary, Grade 11 Immersion, "La collusion américaine