AUB Student Wins ESU Public Speaking Competition

ESU members and winners gather for group photo

Most people respond to a powerful speaker, the kind of person who can grab an audience's attention and hold its interest. Once acquired, stays with its holder as a life skill, providing a visceral edge in a multitude of situations. The Lebanese chapter of the London-based English Speaking Union (ESU), committed to giving encouragement and opportunity to young people to develop the ability to speak well in public, chose AUB this year as the venue for its eighth annual national public speaking competition.

Coordinated by Nayiri Baboudjian, an AUB alumna and an instructor of English at the University of Balamand (UOB), the competition was held on April 5 at College Hall. Knowing that the mission of the ESU is to "create global understanding through English," AUB Provost Peter Heath expressed his pride in the University's role as the "host to this cultural, skill-based, and student-based event."

This year's jury panel consisted of Frances Mary Guy, the British ambassador to Lebanon, and Tony Graham, manager of financial services at the HSBC bank. They were joined by Jim Muir, senior foreign correspondent for the BBC in the Middle East region, who had flown from Iraq earlier in the week purposely to attend the ESU competition at AUB. Participants of the competition came from a number of universities across the country.

Selected from a pool of thirteen remarkably eloquent candidates, this year's winners, Joulan Abdel Khalek from AUB and Jad Khoury from UOB, tackled the theme of the competition, "New Horizons, New Frontiers," from different angles. In his speech, entitled "A New Tomorrow," Abdel Khalek, who ranked first, spoke at length about "the urgency of redefining our collective identity as aware Lebanese citizens anxious about the future of our country." The runner-up's speech was of a less political bent. Khoury argued passionately against heterosexism in Lebanese society. His talk, entitled "A Plea for Hope," called for tolerance of Lebanese individuals embracing alternative or gay or lesbian lifestyles and sexual orientations.

In Lebanon, the first ESU public speaking competition was held in 2000 at the British Council in Beirut. Initiated in the United Kingdom in 1981, the competition has become one of the focal points of ESU life. Once a year, a theme is given to all ESU chapters around the world with the aim of giving young people of different nationalities a platform to express their views on relevant topics in English.

The Lebanese winners, Abdel Khalek and Khoury, will be flying to London in May to represent Lebanon in the international competition, and the winner will be invited to return in the fall to collect the prize awarded by the Duke of Edinburgh at Buckingham Palace. Over thirty countries take part in the competition every year.