LAMPMAN — Peyton Van De Woestyne’s thoughts on common sense have earned her a provincial title.
The 13-year-old member of the Browning 4-H Beef Club took top spot for the junior division at the provincial 4-H public speaking competition May 3 in Humboldt.
“It feels great. I was really surprised,” said Peyton in an interview with SaskToday.
Eight other speakers from across the province were entered, she said, and Peyton thought they were all really good.
Peyton noted the judges were impressed with her choice of a topic, because they thought it was “very mature”. They were also pleased with how she started with a question, “Common sense: is it something we are born with or is it something we learn?".
“They also liked my pace when I was speaking and they liked the humour. They liked how I based it off of real life, and they also liked how I used stories from my personal experience and gave information about them,” said Peyton.
She recalled she came up with the topic while talking about how people were lacking in common sense these days. She compared how it differs from urban to rural settings.
This was the fifth time she has delivered the speech. She also spoke at the club, district and regional levels, and at the Estevan Farm Family of the Year banquet in March. Peyton added the only real change she made to the speech was to use more hand gestures.
Peyton is in her fifth year in 4-H and will move up to the intermediate age group next year. She said she enjoys meeting new people, making new friends and spending time with animals. Public speaking is a big part of 4-H's programming, and Peyton is fond of that component.
“It’s helped me get better at presentations at school, with how I speak, talking to adults and talking in front of strangers,” she said.
