The grand finale of the Youth Leadership Program (YLP) of Al-Khozama International School Dammam was held recently.
Participants in the program, which aimed to enhance the communicative and leadership skills of the students, were mentored by the Prudent Family Toastmasters Club.
The event was attended by Razi Sheikh Pareeth, deputy group manager of the BEST Group of Schools, KSA; Jayashree Muralidhar, principal of Al-Khozama International School; Abdul Gafoor Irumban, headmaster; Albin Joseph, chief contest master; Alex Philip, chief judge; toastmasters and parents.
Twenty-three boys and 21 girls from classes 6-8 underwent rigorous training for a period of nine weeks to hone their skills in communication, presentation and leadership.
Toastmasters Albin Joseph, Merlin Albin, Narasimha Rao, Taher Saeed, Irfan Iqbal khan, Fatema Taher Saeed and Shabana were instrumental in mentoring the students.
The contest comprised three sessions — international speech, table topics and speech evaluation.
The international speech contest was led by Joseph Albin, where contestants spoke on prepared topics.
The winners of the first three positions in the international speech category were Mirza Zubair Baig, Abdullah Khan Sherwani and Denin Shajji in the boys’ section, and Arunima Sunil, Sudhanthi Murali and Sachi Singh in the girls’ section, respectively.
The table topics contest was led by Samiya Irfan Khan, in which the candidates spoke on a topic given on the spot.
The top three winners in the category were Rudra Singh Chauhan, Harshith Harish and Ayaan Surkhi of the boys’ section, and Neeharika Prashanth, Marice Kuriakose Mattamana and Maria Roy of the girls’ section, respectively.
The speech evaluation contest was led by Zainab Taher Saeed. The winners of first, second and third positions in the category were Kaivalya Dawande, Ayser Al-Safi Rabbani and Sulaiman Dawood in the boys’ section, and Anuskha Deka, Amrutha T. Joseph, and Ashlin Joseph in the girls’ section, respectively.