On the 9th of September I was selected to represent our school at the AISM Regional Declamation competition held at Poddar International School, Nerul along with Esha Sridhar of class 11, Nitya Vaidya and Anubhav Dayal of class 10. A declamation competition is one in which the participant must interpret and deliver a speech given by a famous personality. I chose UN Women Goodwill Ambassador, Emma Watson’s speech at the United Nations in September 2014. This speech was based on the world’s common misconception of the word ‘feminism’ and her effort to correct this problem at a global scale. She refused to hear the world call feminists ‘too strong’, ‘too aggressive’ and ‘isolating’ and belived that gender equality is needed not only for women but men too. There were 47 schools that participated and the participants had to go through two rounds of tough assessments. After qualifying as a finalist and facing intense competition, I managed to secure the 1st place in the senior category. After this my journey continued as I went on to represent the collective of the Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh and Goa regions at the ASISC National Declamation competition. This competition was to be held at Bishop’s Wescott School, Ranchi, Jharkhand on the 16th, 17th and 18th of September. With a mere week to prepare for the nationals I was filled with anxiety and excitement. After seeing the caliber of the participants I realized the true potential that the youth of our country possess and for the first time it hit me what exactly I was going up against. After a morning filled with heated, intense competition I was surprised to receive an accolade for for 1st Runner Up in the senior category. Although due to the clash of dates I had to miss the most awaited event of Scottish, Inter - House Dramatics, I think the exposure I got and the overall experience was definitely worth it.
–Riya Sharma 12B
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