The Barry Sullivan Law Cup wasn’t even on Sara Gray’s radar a couple months ago.
It was Kelowna Christian School (KCS principal Daryl Klassen who emailed her about the possibility of travelling to Vancouver to be a part of the competition.
“I’ve always had a passion for giving speeches, and public speaking in general, so I agree right away,” the 12th grade KCS student said.
“I started researching right away with the help of my coach, Mrs. Mrozek, and then workshopped the speech until it gave a concise yet robust response to the question.”
The Barry Sullivan Law Cup is a public speaking competition put on by the Canadian Bar Association held in downtown Vancouver.
Gray joined students from across British Columbia at the competition on Friday, April 19, and made school history immediately by being the first KCS student to participate.
She furthered that history by the end of the day, wowing the esteemed judging panel and winning the first-place trophy to bring back to Kelowna.
“When we arrived at the competition, we were divided into five rooms of eight students, from which one finalist each would be selected,” Gray explained.
“I was excited to find out that I had been chosen as a finalist, and so I gave my speech again in the auditorium in front of everyone in attendance.”
The topic for this year’s competition was to consider what responsibility, if any, Canada should bear in respect to refugees.
The judges, according to a KCS release, praised Gray’s ability to address key Canadian issues and heralded her and other competitors as a new generation of excellent advocates.
“I was absolutely amazed by the quality of all the speeches given, and it was an amazing experience to be able to go and listen to so many people’s thoughts on such an important topic,” noted Gray.
“Ultimately, I was thrilled to be chosen as the winner, and I’m incredibly grateful to Mr. Klassen and Mrs. Mrozek for putting in the time and effort to make this experience a possibility for me!”
The KCS release said that Gray is the first student from outside of the Lower Mainland to win the Barry Sullivan Law Cup in several years.
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