Written by Yumna, Year 11
The Crystall Charter Prize is a well-known prize at OHS and when the opportunity to take part arose, I immediately knew it was something I wanted to do. The topics we could choose from were really interesting – in fact, it was difficult to pick what I was going to speak about.
I realised quite quickly that there was something that had been on my mind for a while. I was really upset at how society around us seemed to be falling apart! We had the COVID pandemic, inflation and governments who didn’t seem to know what they were doing. I wondered if this was something unique for our time or something the world had seen before. There was a perfect topic that allowed me to think about this more deeply: ‘Can we ever escape the mistakes of the past’. Through my GCSE History, I was aware of the circumstances and events that led to World War II. That much of the ethics and morals of the modern world were set by those who had witnessed the horrors. Sadly, the more I read, the more I realised that we had been here before and were going through the same mistakes again. I also realised that we now have new tools and means to escape this doom loop. This let me write a powerful speech.
I really enjoyed writing and delivering the speech. The panel asked me questions and I think I handled them well. This was all useful for me because it gave me confidence that I could speak about a topic. I am sure this will come in handy with interviews I am going to face for University admissions. So anyone thinking about entering next year I would say go for it!