On Saturday, March 9th the Senior Public Speaking team from Castlerea Community School were crowned winners of the fifth annual Knights of St. Columbanus Public Speaking Competition 2018-19. This is a national youth faith initiative supported by the Knights of St. Columbanus, an order of Catholic laymen founded in 1915 by Canon James O’Neill. Runners-up were St. Joseph’s College, Garbally, Ballinasloe and Killina Presentation Secondary School, Tullamore.
The team from Castlerea won first place at the Diocesan Final held at Abbey Community College, Boyle and progressed from the Connacht Final, held in Knock House Hotel. The successful teams at Diocesan, Provincial and All-Ireland level received trophies and cheques for their school on each occasion, while students on the winning teams received vouchers to the value of €50.
The Castlerea CS team’s topic was: ‘Living the Christian Life’. The team was Aoibhe D’Arcy, Maureen Quinn, Nathan Green and Ronan Tumbek, with Aoibhe (as captain) starting the day’s proceedings with an eloquent introduction to the issue of World Hunger. Maureen followed with a passionate discussion pertaining to real-world examples of hardship, and Nathan presented a powerful conclusion detailing initiatives that have been put in place to address the issue both in Ireland and internationally. All arguments were supported by the students’ lived faith experiences and their faith formation within family, parish and school.
The standard at the All-Ireland final was commended by both the adjudicators and Co-ordinator of the competition, Seamus McDonald (Knight). On announcing Castlerea Community School as winners of the All-Ireland competition, they were highly commended for focusing on their active faith lives as well as their in-depth knowledge of scripture and church teaching. Their presentation of the topic was outstanding, with balance, depth and excellent teamwork evident throughout.
There were jubilant scenes among the assembled group from Castlerea CS including the team, their mentors, families and friends and other members of the school community who travelled in support. The immense achievement of this team was noted, as they are the first winners of the Knights of St. Columbanus Public Speaking Competition from Connacht and the first school from the Community School sector to win at this level.
The Castlerea Community School team are most grateful to Justin Harkin (Diocese of Elphin Education Secretariat), Seamus McDonald (Knight of St. Columbanus) coordinator of the competition, Bishop Kevin Doran, adjudicators, Ms. Eileen Ryan (Principal, CCS) and Jarlath Burke (Deputy Principal, CCS) and the staff and families of Castlerea Community School for their unwavering support and encouragement.
