First-year law student Grace Johnston won the Lions Young Speechmaker Otago-Southland district contest last week and is set to compete at the national finals in Rangiora next month.
She said she had been into public speaking since the day she was born and it seemed to come to her naturally.
"I love doing my research but the actual speech-making part — it just happens.
"It’s hard to explain but it feels as though it comes to me naturally.
"Maybe because I’ve done it for ages and I like to talk."
Miss Johnston won every speech competition from year 8 to year 13 at Columba College and missed out in year 7 because she was disqualified after giving a nine-minute speech, passing her time limit of two minutes.
For the competition the competitors had to do an impromptu speech after one minute of preparation and perform a pre-prepared five-minute speech.
Miss Johnston’s topic was reframing toxic masculinity.
"I’m really passionate about aspects of intersectional feminism and I’ve seen first-hand the implications of boys trying to uphold this view of toxic masculinity, especially in New Zealand, so I feel it’s really important to talk about.
"I focused mainly on men’s mental health and the statistics and things surrounding suicide and substance abuse in New Zealand and how that links to cultural ideals and what it means to be a man in New Zealand," she said.
Miss Johnston said she was most excited about engaging in discussions with the other contestants at the national finals.
"I think it’s really powerful because we all have our own voices and then we get to listen to what each person is saying and then reflect on it within ourselves — it’s an awesome learning experience."
