Thomas Nguyen has the gift of the gab. The year 12 Hoppers Crossing Secondary College student recently won the title of best senior impromptu speaker at Wynspeak.
Wynspeak is an annual public speaking competition for high schools in the west run each year by the Apex Club of Werribee and Rostrum Australia.
For the impromptu category, Thomas had to pick a topic out of a hat and had four minutes to prepare a two-minute speech. The 17-year-old impressed the audience with his views on how to make yourself sound intelligent.
It’s the third time Thomas has won the impromptu speaker award.
He said he adopted a pretentious persona for the speech and discussed the merits of using really long words and making things up to fool others into thinking you’re intelligent.
“I was pretty happy with myself,” he said. “I’ve been in Wynspeak for five years, and three of those years I’ve been in the finals.
“I’ve always been good at on-the-spot speaking … this was an environment where I could do it competitively and in a more refined manner.
“Public speaking is a common skill that everyone wants to have. I think everyone gets nervous [speaking in public], but it’s about how well you prepare.”
Thomas also delivered a pre-prepared five-minute speech on the virtue of being wrong.
He hopes to do a science degree, majoring in physics, after graduating from high school this year, and ultimately he wants to be a teacher.
