Two area youth made an impression at the recent Manitoba Ag Days through their speaking competition entries.
The Manitoba Young Speakers for Agriculture (MYSA) had both junior and senior students take part in their competition held in conjunction with Manitoba Ag Days for the first time.
A total of 30 young people shared their speeches via Zoom to a panel of judges. The final four in each of the two categories then presented their speeches to another panel and an audience at the Keystone Centre in Brandon.
A top speaker in the junior category was William Derksen of Thornhill, while coming first in the senior category was Lillian Seward of Manitou. Neither could be reached for comment at press time.
Each of the top four finishers received a cash prize and the first-place winner of each age category has the opportunity to move on to the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto in November.
Derksen is a Gr. 7 student from Morden’s Prairie Crossroads School. The 12-year-old made the claim Manitobans should be allowed to purchase raw milk—unpasteurized and non-homogenized—in stores seeing as technology and food handling has evolved significantly since this law was passed, making it safer to drink.
Derksen had requested to present his speech to Manitoba Ag Minister Ron Kostyshyn and his colleagues in the Manitoba Legislature, and he was able to speak with Kostyshyn after the winners were announced at Ag Days.
Meanwhile, Seward, who is a Gr. 10 student from Nellie McClung Collegiate, won first place in the senior category. The Seward family are cattle producers raising purebred limousine cattle in the Manitou area.
“Each of these individuals has a unique connection to agriculture and public speaking, but they all have a common interest in advancing the next generation of leaders,” said MYSA committee member Leanne Sprung.
