As this year’s PIN (Positive Intervention Now) term comes to a close, youngsters attending the afterschool programme have recently met the challenge of public speaking, having completed a special presentation project introduced to the students by PwC staff, who volunteer each week to work on the PIN programme.

The students, aged 10 or 11 who attend George Town Primary School, were given the task of researching and then writing a power point presentation on a famous person, sport or country and then to present their power point to a panel of PwC volunteers, in a bid to see who could deliver the top presentation.

PwC volunteers marked each presentation on a number of different factors, and the results were as follows: Reyanna Forbes was acknowledged for Best Content on her presentation on pop star Iggy Izalea; Kesiah Campbell for Best Slideshow for pop star Natalie La Rose; Dwight Brown for Best Presentation Skills for his project on Brazilian football player Neymar da Silva Santos and Danielle Waugh received the highest overall score for her presentation on Canada. Each participant was presented with a PwC certificate to mark their achievement.

PIN is run by the Education and Youth Committee of St George’s Anglican Church, and welcomes up to 15 youngsters each year in their last year of primary school. The programme works comprehensively to help students develop spiritually, intellectually, socially and emotionally through their transition into the teenage years. The afterschool programme runs three times a week from 3pm to 6pm, Tuesday through Thursday. PwC staff has been a main sponsor of the program for the past eight years and has also actively participated over for the past four years contributing volunteer hours and running photographic competitions, helping with homework and generally guiding students in their intellectual and behavioural development.

Angilynn Chan-Baraud, PwC’s Assurance and Business Development Manager, coordinates the firm’s efforts to assist the PIN programme. She explained the thought process behind introducing the presentation project.

“PwC has been a longtime supporter of PIN because we recognise the value of the programme, targeting young people in a positive way before they make the move into adulthood,” she explained. “Having worked alongside the current set of students for a number of months, we were looking for a project that would test their creativity and their research skills, as well as their presentation and public speaking abilities, all very necessary skills that they will need in later life.”

Mrs Chan-Baraud said they were all impressed by the efforts made by the students to produce an interesting presentation.

“Our public speaking competition really tested the students and produced some excellent results. We especially enjoyed how students tried hard to engage the audience and make sure their project was entertaining and fun as well as interesting and factual. Our congratulations go out to the winners and all students who participated for each doing a fantastic job,” she stated.

Ms Marlene Ricketts, the PIN programme coordinator, says PwC’s new public speaking project really fired up the imagination of the students.

“Students enjoyed researching their particular projects — which ranged from countries of the world to famous sporting stars to popular singers and performers — and worked hard to give a polished finish to their actual presentation,” she confirms. “PwC has been a constant supporter of the PIN programme over the years and we are always deeply grateful to them for the energy, creativity and interest they bring to the programme. We could not run the PIN programme without the consistent support of corporate sponsors such as PwC.”

If you are interested in donating or getting involved with the PIN programme, please email [email protected]

IMAGE: PIN Graduates 2015 – Georgina Wilcox

See also iNews Cayman story published June 15 2015 “Cayman Islands’ 2014/15 PIN closes with glowing ceremony” at: http://www.ieyenews.com/wordpress/cayman-islands-201415-pin-closes-with-glowing-ceremony/